For The Better
by 0tter
Summary: After winning the honour of killing a dragon, Hiccup and Toothless flee. They left without a trace, leaving nothing behind (or so they thought). The village confused to why their most improving student disappeared are left struck down. How will the village deal with this? What challenges will Hiccup face before his eventual return? (Rated T for possible future violent scenes)
1. Chapter 1: Where it all ends and begins

**A/N : (This scene starts after their crazy flight where they almost die and where Hiccup befriends a terror.) (This very much follows this scene in the movie, only with slight additions and some minor changes. I didn't really want to re-write the movie but it had to be done)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'How To Train Your Dragon' or any of its characters.**

**If anything is written in **_**italics**_** outside of speech it is what the character is thinking at that moment.**

**(This chapter was edited when chapter 9 was released)**

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Chapter 1: Where it all ends and begins

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The cove was a beautiful place. It was surrounded by steep walls with the only entrance being a gap just big enough just to fit me. The trees surrounding the cove could almost look like a second wall of their own. The clear lake in the middle of the cove faithfully reflected the walls of the prison. A prison... yet the only place where I was happy. Not so much a prison for me, just for Toothless as he couldn't fly out by himself. It was the only place where I could keep him safe. Nobody knew about this place thankfully. The lake took up most of the cove, only the outer edges saved from the smooth water. The ground was mushy and covered with moss due to its close proximity to the body of water.

I heard Toothless groan beside me. That flight had taken its toll on the both of us. I look over at my companion and scratched his neck. He gave out a satisfied purr. I brought myself up off of his side and looked at myself through the water. I had brown hair that reached down to my neck, forest green eyes and so many freckles you could argue that I had white freckles on tan skin. _I really need to wash myself_. I looked like a burnt fish bone, skinny and with patches of black as a result of Toothless' well thought out act. I cupped some water and began washing out what I could. Toothless looked at me the entire time with a confused look. I don't know why he was confused, I was just cleaning myself.

When I was finished, I went over and sat beside him on the ground. He looked at me with an intent gaze and a sparkle of intelligence in those eyes, clearly seeing I wanted to talk to him.

"What are we going to do Toothless?", I sighed while looking at him.

Toothless tilted his head to the side. Sometimes It seemed like Toothless seemed to understand every single thing I was saying. _I'm pretty sure he just understands the tone or the general topic of the conversation_, _nothing special_.

"I mean like, if I win the 'honour' of killing a dragon, we both know I can't do it."

Toothless gave a soft rumble as he crawled up to me and pushed his nose up to my hands. He was an expert at comforting me and getting the attention he wanted.

"We have to leave Toothless."

His frills stood up as he widened his green eyes and looked at me. He clearly didn't expect me to say that.

"If they find you, th- they'll kill you Toothless. They're stubborn, they won't believe me."

Toothless scoffed and gave a roll of his eyes. I perfectly knew what he meant.

"Oh, as if you're not stubborn."

He grumbled at that as well, too stubborn to admit it.

"As I was saying... We have to leave at some point, If I-I don't win, it'll buy us more time... I just don't know bud."

I was shaking with worry and could barely hold my words together. Toothless crooned softly with what I could guess was encouragement. I patted the top of his head and got up.

"I have to go bud, I need to go home."

Toothless went and curled on the ground near a rock, he looked like one giant volcanic rock. I left him and crouching under the shield found myself in the forest. I took in the pleasant smell, it was a relief compared to the stench of Berk. I traveled through the forest as quickly as I could trying my best not to trip on the roots or bushes as I already have countless times in these woods. I exited the forest to greet the open air and our little village. The sun was just starting to sink under the ocean as I slowly dragged myself towards Gobber's smithy. I went into my little room and started searching for ideas on what was the best course of action. I got nothing. I absent-mindedly began rolling a charcoal stick up my desk as I laid my self down on the desk, waiting for it to fall back down before flicking it up again.

Then dad barged in out of nowhere. The noise he created startled me and I instantly stood up. I almost lost my balance but managed to grab the desk before falling over.

"Dad you're back, uh, Gobber's not here so." I said while quickly piling up my drawings of Toothless and his tail designs trying to hide them from my dad.

"I know, I came looking for you." My father replied.

This came as a surprise to me as I responded, "You did?"

"You've been keeping secrets." Dad continued. _Does he know? This is not good._

"Uh, I have?" I replied weakly.

"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me." He said sternly. _So he does know, oh no._

"I don't know what you-" I begin trying to cover myself before my father interrupts me.

"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it." He said as if it were the truth. I gulped as I looked at him. "So lets talk about that dragon."

_There was no denying that he knew. _"Oh gods, dad I'm so sorry I was going to tell you I just didn't know how... " I began stuttering at every third word.

What came next surprised me and left me utterly confused. My father began laughing. I started laughing as well I didn't know why, probably from nervousness.

"You're not upset?" I asked.

"What? I was hoping for this!" Stoick replied.

"Uh, you were?" I questioned still completely confused.

"Believe me, it only gets better, just wait until you spill a nadder's guts for the first time, and mount your first gronckle head on a spear. What a feeling! You really had me going there son. All those years of the worst viking Berk has ever seen. Odin, it was rough, I almost gave up on you and all the while you were holding out on me, Thor almighty! With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about." Stoick said.

Although it was evident that, in reality, we still had nothing to talk about. He broke the silence by giving me a helmet. He explained to me what it was and where it came from, but at that point I was lost in my own head. I faked a yawn and we parted ways.

"_All those years of the worst viking Berk has ever seen". _That hurt, it hurt because it was the truth and hurt even more that if it wasn't for Toothless that would be what my dad thought of me. I laid down in my bed, glad to be in its embrace after that draining talk. Sleep overcame me quickly, despite the stress.

The next day, I found myself walking towards the kill ring. Crossing the bridge I entered into the ring. The gates opened and we all entered like we did every time. I straggled behind as always, trying to avoid the other teens. The walls of the ring were three times higher than me and the roof (if you could call it that) was just a bunch of chains holding the dragons in. There was a huge crowd gathered around it, waiting to see who would win the 'honour' of killing a dragon. I honestly really wanted Astrid to win. It would calm her extreme attitude and I would not have to do something I'm not too fond of doing.

The gronckle was released. The crowd roared in excitement, excitement I could not understand. Quickly their voices faded as I tried my best to keep away from the dragon as I always did. First Ruffnut and Tuffnut were caught out after fighting each other. Then Fishlegs after he started trying to study the dragon. Snotlout like always tried to get up to Astrid and it wasn't long until it was just me and Astrid left. _She better win_. I continued to hide behind one of the small wooden walls that were scattered around the arena. Astrid went up to me and grabbed me firmly by the hand.

"Stay out of my way, I'm winning this one." She said with her usual evil voice.

"Please, by all means." I said back trying not to stutter.

_It would be better if you did. _I looked up to see my dad._ I hope this won't disappoint you. _I adjusted my helmet and turned around to see the gronckle heading towards me. _Aww not now._ It came right up to my face, I quickly discarded my weapons and did what I did best. Before Astrid's war cry could have any meaning and anyone could comprehend what I did, the gronckle was on the the ground shaking one if its hind legs. _This will not be good._

"NO! NO SON OF A HALF TROLL BRAIN EATING MUNCH BUCKET." Astrid cursed.

I cringed, I could physically feel the anger radiating from her. _I have to go right now, I can't deal with this._ I started to leave but Gobber grabbed me before I could make any significant progress.

"I'm kind of late for-", I tried to say to Gobber.

Astrid cut me off before I could finish my sentence and placed the end of her axe up to my neck. Even though this position couldn't cause much harm, I was still worried. I had never seen her so furious before. Seeing her like this made me feel absolutely terrified.

"Late for what!? Late for what exactly?" she said with the toxic voice of a snake. _I do not want to deal with this right now._

"Okay, quiet down". After my father had said that the entire fell into quiet murmurs. I was so busy trying to not win that I didn't even hear them shouting in the first place.

"The elder has decided".

_Oh no._

Gobber came between both me and Astrid. He pointed at Astrid with his hook first, obviously, no one would even think that I would even have the possibility of winning. But then, to everyone's surprise, the elder shook her head. The gasps of the crowd echoed my own internal thoughts. _Da-da-da, we're dead._ Gobber pointed his functioning hand at me and when the elder nodded, I cringed as my entire world began to fall apart. _This is it..._

"You've done it. You've done it Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber cheered, obviously happy that his apprentice succeeded.

That sentence can go up on my list of the worst things I've ever been told. After that I didn't comprehend what was happening. The cheers of the crowd went to the back of my mind as I began to think of how I had to leave before this 'great' event.

I came up with another lame excuse to detach myself from the crowd that has formed around me. They assumed I would come back so most of them went to celebrate in the Mead Hall. This left the village itself pretty deserted. It was odd to see it this quiet. I almost felt guilty that I would be leaving them after they seemed so happy and proud of me. _Almost_. I knew that deep down I was still 'Hiccup the Useless' to all of them.

I ran into the forge and quickly began gathering up all that could be necessary once I leave. I wouldn't be coming back, so there was no room for error, what I leave with was what I would live with. I quickly got a basket from the side and began throwing everything I decided was important into it carelessly for the sake of speed. It wouldn't be long until some people realize I was not up there celebrating, and it would be difficult to explain why I had a basket full of supplies. I threw in everything that I needed if I were to set up a smithy. Hammer, leather for Toothless, a lot of paper, basically everything. I decided to forgo my prints. _The ideas are in my head after all._ I left a huge mess in the smithy. Gobber wouldn't be happy, but I was leaving and I had no time to think about that. With the basket on my back I left the smithy.

It didn't take long to reach my house. I climbed up the steps and entered my room. I gathered even more paper and empty books. Paper would be hard to come by, and I needed it for another great idea of mine. I grabbed some spare clothes and a warmer tunic as well as some spare cloth which I would need for repairs. I went about the house throwing important items into the basket. I then sat on a chair. I had everything I needed. The basket still had some space left and I decided I would fill it with food. I realized that this would be the last time I would sit in this home, the place I spent my entire life in. Yet my home contained so little happy memories. It wasn't unheard of for vikings to go on grand journeys. The only difference this time, was my age and the fact that I wasn't planning on coming back. Toothless was a better friend than anyone I have ever had and was worth more to me than the whole damn village. I pushed myself up and prepared to leave. I thought of leaving a note, but I was afraid I might have written something I would come to regret. I left the house not bothering to close the door.

I rushed down to the docks. The ocean was surprisingly calm today and made me feel as if everything was going to be alright. I was surprised to see the docks empty. Usually even during the meetings in the hall there were still at least some vikings hanging about making a lot of noise. Yet, the silence was deafening. Pushing that thought aside, I ran down to where some fresh fish was stored. I tossed as much fish as I could until the basket was filled to the brim. I began to walk away from the docks and I thought about what everyone else would think. I went up to a small fishing boat and untied it from the port. It began to drift out to sea gently riding on the waves. _They would think that I took the boat, it's for the best_. That boat was small enough to fit two people and losing it shouldn't cause much harm to Berk.

As I approached the forest adrenaline started to flow through me as I began to realize what I was doing. The 'Heir of Berk' leaving his home for a dragon. _Seems reasonable to me._ They'll be better off without me anyways. It felt like someone was following me, but when I looked around I couldn't see anyone. I rushed through the forest to the best of my ability, I did not let the basket slow me down even as it uncomfortably bounced of my back. The adrenaline made my heart beat strongly in my chest and I avoided the undergrowth. Eventually I came upon the cove. I would miss this place, it held so many happy memories. _Better than the ones on berk._ I entered the cove searching for Toothless.

"We're leaving. Lets pack up, looks like you and me are taking a little vacation, forever." I called out.

I opened the basket and began a final check before our departure. Everything seemed in place so I called out for Toothless. The dragon was on the other end of the cove but quickly made his way towards me. As he came to me he began to sniff the basket, obviously thinking that it was for him.

"No bud that's not for you. That's our supplies, we're leaving."

Toothless tilted his head and let out a concerned growl. I put my hand up to the side of his muzzle and scratched him a bit.

"Yeah... I- I don't know how to say this. I tried not to win and yet I won. The gods must really hate me."

Toothless went closer to me and began to rub his cheek against my chest. He was more compassionate and kind than any human on Berk, even my dad. His comfort made me almost forget all of the worries of the world, but I quickly dragged myself out of that comfort, we could not afford to waste time.

"We have to leave soon bud, you know I can't kill that dragon. If I was to return that dragon would kill me and then you..."

_Now is not the time to be thinking of this! _I let out a sad sigh, which Toothless echoed with one of his own. I grabbed my knife that my father had given to me as a gift. Toothless recoiled slightly and moved away slightly at the sight of it. It would be the one thing that would remind me of him. I began to look thoroughly at the knife. It looked rough around the edges after years of use and it didn't look like it was crafted by the best smith. It fitted nicely in my palms and the blade was about the length of my hand. My attention was quickly torn away by the sound of something in the bushes. I yelped as I accidentally cut myself and dropped the knife, allowing it to clatter on the ground. Toothless quickly rushed to me and began to nuzzle my hand. The cut was deep and blood was pouring out like a steady stream. Toothless began to lick my hand. I was never more confused and frightened in my life, a dragon, trying to drink my blood. As he did so the pain quickly lessened and the bleeding quickly stopped. It still hurt, but it was a lot better.

"Huh..."

Realising there was probably someone watching us and it would be to late to explain I hurriedly sat atop Toothless with the basket and slipped my feet into the stirrups.

"Come on lets go bud, now."

Toothless spread out his wings and within no time at all we were up in the air. I looked down at the place that once granted me a place to escape, a place of comfort. I didn't mind as long as I always had Toothless with me. Once we were off of the island I realized that I had forgot the knife.

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**A/N : Okay, this was my first ever attempt on a fan fiction. I have written short stories before, but this is my first attempt at something this big.**

**I personally would love some constructive criticism, so go ahead and bash me brutally, it's the best way to improve. (Just don't force any ideas down my throat :) )  
I hoped that I stayed in character as well as I could, I find it slightly difficult.  
I haven't watched any of the TV series. I have tried to watch them, but couldn't get the same joy from the movies. So as a result, most things from the TV show won't pop up unless I specifically search for something, sorry.**

**Anyways seriousness aside, I really look forward to getting this finished and I honestly hope you can come to enjoy this story.**


	2. Chapter 2: Following

**A/N : I know this chapter is short, but I couldn't write any more for it without advancing the plot too far.  
Each chapter is supposed to be in the point of view of one character, so I will not have multiple point of views in the same chapter.  
Anyways, I would like to thank those that left reviews, it keeps me going.**

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Chapter 2: Following

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I was not able to believe that Hiccup, that scrawny excuse for a viking, won the honour of killing a monstrous nightmare. I was pretty sure most of the vikings felt the same way. It seemed like an unpleasant dream. The way he fought dragons made me suspicious. He never ended up hurting any of them, and his weapon always laid discarded and unused on the ground after the battle. As much as I hated to admit it, despite the abnormal circumstances, he won, although I would never admit it publicly. I wasn't able to comprehend how in a matter of weeks, Hiccup went from well... being Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training. The world had truly gone mad.

I entered the hall along with several loud villagers. I was pretty sure some of them didn't care about Hiccup, but just came for the excuse of celebrating. Whenever there was drink involved, vikings loved to make up an excuse. Hiccup like always seemed to avoid the crowd. He always made an effort to avoid questions which I could not tell if he wanted to keep his secrets or that he was uncomfortable. As always he made up some lazy excuse and said he would return in a while. I sat down on a bench letting my legs hang just above the ground. I was still thinking of how Hiccup could have beaten me. It just wasn't fair. My friends sat beside me, all having their own conversations. Fishlegs was being a nerd as always, Ruff and Tuff kept pulling each others hair and Snotlout still tried to flirt with me. Mostly, I was still lost in deep thought. I trained all my life, was always the best and now out of everyone, Hiccup, had become better than me in a couple of weeks. I slammed my fist onto the table which cause the plates to shake. Everyone looked at me with a confused gaze, I hadn't said a thing. I got up and stomped out of the hall pushing through some vikings without a thought. One would think that if you had won the honour of killing a dragon you would be celebrating, yet Hiccup was no where to be seen. I exited the hall and sat down on the steps. It had already been an hour and there was no sign of Hiccup. Then it hit me.

_Maybe he's out training, preparing for the day ahead._ With that thought I pulled myself up and quickly paced towards the village. It was oddly quiet, usually filled with life now so devoid and empty. I guessed that this really was a cause for celebration. I was determined to find Hiccup to see how and why he was better than me. No one could be better than me. He must have been training with someone, there was no other explanation. I continued down to the edge of the empty village. A skinny shadow then caught my eye. I saw a figure carrying something on its back heading toward the woods. It was Hiccup, he was looking around cautiously, obviously not wanting to be followed. I had seen Hiccup in the woods once before, but couldn't figure out where he was training. This time however I would find out his secrets. I ran up trying not to make a sound to avoid Hiccup's attention. It wasn't that difficult, he couldn't hear to save his life. It wasn't long until I reached the looming trees, the leaves were watching me from above. Hiccup wasn't that far ahead, he moved pretty slow for such a light weight viking.

My eyes had to adjust to the darkness of the woods. The trees selfishly absorbed almost of all the light for themselves, leaving almost nothing for me. I followed Hiccup through the woods keeping up with a constant distance between us. I was surprised that he maneuvered through the plant life without much difficulty, even with a basket on his back. _He must have been here a lot._ Lost in my own thoughts I found myself as equally lost in the woods. I had lost Hiccup. I wasn't planning on giving up so I followed the general direction he was headed. I slowed down as I came upon an unorthodox display. The sight I came upon was strange. It was a tree the had fallen over in the most peculiar way. It looked as if it was ripped from the top by an angry giant. It's top half laid on the ground. It wasn't cut, it was almost pulled off. I looked down and it looked like someone had dug a ditch near the tree. On either side of this dug out canal were more broken trees. It looked as if something had fallen here from the sky, but what? At first it looked like a god had been struck down and fell onto the earth. I carefully treaded along the disturbed ground. I then saw some broken ropes and rocks. A destroyed bola.

Everything clicked in my head. A dragon was shot down and landed here, still managing to cause destruction even though it had been immobilized. My best guess was that it broke free as the ropes were definitely damaged by the fall. My eyes widened with realization. Hiccup. He shot down a dragon didn't he? That night where he caused more damage than the dragons. I don't remember what dragon he said it was, but now I see he didn't lie. If the dragon was still here, that meant..._ Oh no._ I ran as fast as I could, toppling forward endlessly and my legs catching me before I fell. I may not have cared for the boy, but he was a fellow viking and most importantly the chief's son. I had to help him, despite my disgust towards the boy. I ran to an area that looked like a giant hole in the ground. In it was a small lake with the outer edges spared from the water. I saw Hiccup, great I could safely get him out of here.

"We're leaving. Lets pack up, looks like you and me are taking a little vacation, forever." Hiccup called out. Huh? What did he mean by that? Who was he talking to? Well thank the gods he didn't appear to be in any danger. I decided to hide so that he wouldn't notice me. I believed that just listening will be enough. If the dragon was to appear, I would defend Hiccup, I wasn't that far away from him. I heard some heavy trodding and a rumble. Even though I should have looked, I knew that Hiccup was jumpy and could be very observant sometimes. So I decided to continue my eavesdropping in some bushes.

"No bud thats not for you. That's our supplies, we're leaving." Hiccup said more softly this time. What? Why is he leaving? My thought were confused and running around the place. He had just won the honour of killing a dragon and now decided to leave? What was wrong with the scrawny excuse for a viking? What was weird was that I didn't hear anyone reply to Hiccup, yet it was as if he was holding a developed conversation with someone.

"Yeah... I- I don't know how to say this. I tried not to win and yet I won. The gods must really hate me." He stuttered. Wait, he tried not to win? I was running out of theories, I had never been stunned with shock and confusion in my life, and it felt weird. For all his life, he wanted to be accepted by vikings, and now when he had the chance he chose to leave. I did not like this one bit at all. I felt angry, that he took away my prize and doesn't even bother to claim it for himself.

"We have to leave soon bud, you know I can't kill that dragon. If I was to return that dragon would kill me and then you..." He stated in almost whispering the end. So, apparently he couldn't kill dragons. What a weakling. That explains why through out his entire time in dragon training, he had never done anything threatening to the dragons, and it seemed like he tried not to hurt them. I found that absolutely disgusting. I guess that's why he thinks he would die against the monstrous nightmare.

At this point, my curiosity was threatening to murder me. I tried getting up to achieve a view of what was actually happening down in the crater, but my hand slipped and caused the bushes to rustle loudly. I couldn't risk Hiccup seeing me, if he hadn't already. Without a second thought I quietly slipped away. I was going to tell Stoick what I had heard. He might not believe me, but if I could at least convince him to watch the ports so Hiccup couldn't leave. Then I would question him myself, with force if need be. I was not going to let him leave this island. The disaster that would ensue could be catastrophic for Stoick, and I doubt Hiccup would survive out there alone.

There was one thing that I was certain of, Hiccup was a traitor.

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**A/N: Let me know if I wasn't fully in character. I still find it challenging.  
As always, leave reviews and suggestions in ways I can improve my writing. Thanks.**


	3. Chapter 3: Away From Home

**A/N: This chapter and the second chapter are short which is why I got to release them quickly.  
I have a feeling that most of my chapters will be this short. I don't particularly like that, but I'm not going to write for the sake of writing words.  
As always I hope you enjoy.**

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Chapter 3: Away From Home

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I was watching my now former home from above. I was able to see the entire village from up here on Toothless' back. I've seen my home before from above, but not while the sun was out. There were only a handful of people walking about doing their daily business, which meant that most of them were still celebrating my 'achievement' in the hall. _They probably still don't notice I am not there, so much for winning acceptance_. It felt weird seeing the village from above. I spent my entire life on the ground on my two feet, but looking at it from the sky provided a whole different view and it was breathtaking. I saw my house, the forge and could name every building. I watched as the building became smaller. Toothless was quick and it wasn't long before we went past the docks. I always found it weird that it was built on a cliff edge and not on the lower parts of the island. The sea was still somewhat calm, but began to become more unsettled as time went by. I watched the diminishing island as we flew above the vast blue expanse. The ocean was so vast you could think you have been looking at the sky, the only difference would be the colour. It felt good to be up near the clouds. The winds that were blowing at my face was a slight discomfort but a well worth it one. Flying was amazing, it made you feel free from the shackled of the world and the excitement it brought was unparalleled with anything else. One of the very few things that made me happy. This was all thanks to Toothless, my only friend, the only being I cared about and in turn he is the only one who cared about me. I would have never had been happy if it weren't for him. I patted him on the side of his neck as I was thinking. He returned a satisfied purr, reminding me I wasn't alone. I was pretty sure he was as happy as I was to get off of that gods forsaken island.

Suddenly a brown dot among the blue caught my eye. It wasn't long before I realized that it was the fishing boat. A thought came into my head.

"Hey bud, want to blow up that little boat?" I asked Toothless. He gave a confused growl in return.

"Well if they find an empty boat, they'll be suspicious, otherwise we can make it look like something bad had happened." I explained to the dragon.

After a couple of seconds of thinking, the screech of the night fury could be heard. Toothless unleashed his plasma, and I was blinded by a bright light. As my eyes recovered, the former boat was gone. Only a collection of broken planks remained, all scarred by the explosion. I could tell that Toothless was satisfied with that shot.

"Now they'll think I'll be dead, not sure if that is a good thing." I stated, getting quieter as the sentence progressed. Toothless flicked his ear which hit the side of my head leaving a stinging sensation. I got the message.

"Yeah yeah, I didn't think that one through... Well at least they most likely won't be searching for us." I said a bit more happy at the end. I couldn't see Toothless' face but I could tell he gave a role of his eyes and its usual accompanied grunt.

The current in the ocean was heading towards Berk, which meant that the remains of the fishing vessel will probably end up on the island if not found by a ship before hand. I thought they would realize that it was 'me' on the boat and that I was 'dead'. We flew on, leaving the planks to their own fate. It was at that moment I realized that we were truly free. No one will follow us, hopefully. We were no longer bound by the duties of our lives, and with Toothless we could travel anywhere, the entire world was within our reach. I let out of a relieved sigh.

"We did it bud. No longer bound by rules or hurtful people." I said as I laid back on the saddle. The sky was almost clear. Rarely did Berk have good weather. It snowed for nine months of the year and hailed the other three. Yet today I could only spot a little puff of cloud out in the distance. The sun was pleasant on my skin. It's warmth was comforting and made me feel as if all the problems of the world were gone and forgotten. I could have fallen asleep here in pure bliss, but there was work to be done.

"We should find an island to land on, it's going to be dark soon and I need to do some more thinking." I explained to my dragon friend. He seemed to understand what I was saying and gave a nod. Does he know Norse? I would have to ask him about that. He appeared to always respond to what I was saying, but that would be for later. It wasn't long until we sighted a small island, it would do.

Toothless gently brought us down onto the beach of the island. I got off and fell to the ground. I wasn't physically exhausted, but mentally I was wasted. I took the basket off of Toothless and we walked away from the sandy shore. The island was small, probably a couple minutes walk to reach the far side of the island and similar in width. There were a few trees similar to the ones back home, but looked old and damaged most likely because of the constant storms around these parts. I went up to the small excuse for a forest and I got some dried sticks and gathered them into a pile, and surrounded them with rocks. Toothless didn't need to be told what to do and before I knew it the stack of wood was set ablaze. I sat onto the ground carelessly with a thump. Toothless went up to me and snuggled beside me. I returned the favour. I watched the fire dance with a slight hue of purple, most likely as a result of Toothless.

My mind began to wander, almost hypnotized by the flame. I began thinking of home, of dad and of Astrid. What would they do when the figured out I was gone? I was pretty sure there would be a bit of a panic, but ultimately they would be happy that I was gone. Astrid no doubt would win the honour of killing the monstrous nightmare which she would be thankful for. I felt a bit sick that I wouldn't be able to save that poor dragon from its inevitable demise. Innocent and intelligent creatures, slaughtered needlessly, if only they knew. Snotlout as my cousin would probably become the heir and after that the chief of the tribe. _Glad I won't be there to see that mess_. My dad would probably be sad, but I doubt after a while that he would care. He would never talk to me and whenever he did it was with a disappointed scowl. I was just another problem in the pile to him. The only time he recognized I existed was when I messed up and when I started doing well in the ring. Otherwise I might as well have never existed. I didn't know how to feel about not being missed. On one hand it meant that no one at home would have to suffer due to my absence, on the other it made me realize how unneeded I was in the village.

Despite all that it was still my village. It had only been a few hours and homesickness was starting to creep in. Even though I held hate for a lot of them, it was still my home. I would come back and teach them about dragons. We could solve this whole problem peacefully. Then humans and dragons can live in peace.

Anyways, to put it simply, I was happy. No more bullying by the teens. No more disappointed scowls from dad or the vikings. No more rules to restrict me... Gobber. The only person that seemed to care about me. The one person who was never mean to me. The only one who at least somewhat cared. I had left him without saying anything. I quickly shook my head, getting rid of that thought before it would consume me.

I came slowly came back to reality. It was dark out. I lied down and accidentally ended up on Toothless. That ended up braking him free from his own day dreaming. _I wonder what he was thinking about._ He looked at me as if he was about to tell me off, but then relented and rested his head on the ground. I looked up at the stars, tiny white specks among a black sea. More time passed as I kept myself occupied mentally mapping the constellations.

"So what are we going to do bud?" I asked my best friend. He lifted his head toward me and looked me in the eye.

"I mean we can explore the world or settle down somewhere... or both. I don't know what I want to do Toothless. I want to explore everything I can, but I don't know if a nomadic lifestyle will suit me." Toothless crooned softly, as if to encourage me to put forward new ideas.

"Well we could maybe find a new home, but we could still travel a lot... Yeah, a nice little home to use for when we need it, but we can explore the whole archipelago as well." I said almost excited. Toothless seemed to agree with me, he probably didn't care as long as he got to fly. I felt the same way. Seeing that I ended the conversation he put his head back down. I was wondering if I should ask the question, if he could understand me he'd probably think I'm stupid. After a couple of minutes I worked up the courage to ask him.

"Toothless?" I called out. He lifted himself up tilted his head in return, he knew his own name by now.

"Can you understand Norse?" As I said that he just stared at me, he recognized it was a question, but not what I was asking. Odd, it felt like he understood everything I said and yet this simple question couldn't get an answer. _Well that was pointless. _

"I guess you just get the general gist of what I'm saying." I muttered to myself. Toothless' ears perked up a bit, trying to catch what I was saying. I felt weird. I always assumed his responses and it really seemed like he understood what I was saying. Yet now, its clear that he doesn't understand me fully.

"Right, lets get some rest you overgrown lizard." I received the most annoyed look one could receive from a dragon as a result of that sentence, he still understood the insults. With a huff he went to sleep. The dragon was warm and surprisingly comfortable.

I closed my eyes and sleep greeted me quickly and peacefully. I had no dreams that night.

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**A/N: I tried to put a bit of development in the story.  
As always, leave reviews and suggestions in ways I can improve my writing. Thanks.  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Disbelief

**A/N: One of my weak points in writing is conversations between characters. This chapter in particular has a lot of that and I kind of struggled. Either way I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It was a bit difficult to get the characters correct as I'm basing them off the 40 minutes of the first movie before they befriend dragons.  
****Anyways, hope you enjoy.**

**I do not own 'How To Train Your Dragon'**

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Chapter 4: Disbelief

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I could not believe that Hiccup was so willing to let it all go. This was the place where he grew up in. This was his home, his people. Now he was throwing it all away because he couldn't kill a dragon. A dragon was more important than his entire tribe, even his own father. I honestly should have seen it coming. He was always different and struggled to be one of us, barely earning a pass. It was only a matter of time before he betrayed and left us. As a result of that neglect he was leaving. I didn't see how he could help the enemy, I doubt anyone would want him, he was useless anyways. I kicked a rock in anger, only to regret it with a string of curses when it didn't move. It looked at me mockingly. I just hope this was just a big misunderstanding, I didn't know and did not want to know what will happen to the chief and the tribe once they figured out that Hiccup had betrayed all of us. I had to tell Stoick, he had the right to know, he was his father and the leader of the tribe after all. He would know how to solve this problem better than I would. Although, I was afraid he might not listen to me.

I ran through the plants, pushing them aside without a care for them. I did not let the uneven ground slow me down. These woods were the only things keeping me away from telling what I have heard, unless Hiccup gave chase. Knowing him, I doubted that he did. I ran through the dense growth, no light for my eyes. It was dark despite the sun being overhead. I passed by the all too familiar tree with many axe markings in it, that was where I failed to figure out what Hiccup was up to, and I hated myself for it. Now that I did figure out what he was doing, it would be far too late to make amends with this traitor. I just had to let the others know.

It wasn't long before I exited the dark embrace of the forest. The sun greeted me as an old friend, and I was happy to see it. I entered the village and saw that some of the vikings have returned to their normal duties. Although a lot more were still celebrating in the hall. That thought made me sick that they could celebrate the 'achievement' of someone who doesn't care about us. One that only appears to care about the enemy. Although, to be honest, most of them were only there for the food. I still heard that some talked behind his back, despite his achievements. I traveled through the village at a fast pace, ignoring those around me, instead focusing on the task ahead.

I began to approach my final destination. The chief's house was old. It was always spared from attack since Stoick's wife had gone missing. Even then it was only partially burned down, so most parts of it were much older. It helped that it was far away from the main village, the dragons probably didn't know its importance. Sometimes it seems like he wanted it to be burned down, as not to be constantly reminded of what he had lost. Anyone would understand something like that. Stoick had never fully recovered from losing his other half, and if he was to lose Hiccup, despite how useless he was, I don't know if he would pull through. I saw Stoick walking gently towards his home. He was a large man and muscularly built. He always wore a horned helmet and a thick tunic. He had a bushy ginger beard that went down to his neck. It was said that when he was a baby he took a dragon's head clean off of its body. You were a fool if you didn't believe that. His face was content and filled with pride no one had ever seen before. _And I have to be the one to break the news... great_. Stoick took notice of me as I walked up towards him.

"Ah, Astrid! What brings you here today?" The chief asked with obvious satisfaction. He clasped his hands together, eager to hear what I had to say.

"Well... It's about Hiccup" I responded, I tried to make my feeling of distress clear.

"Everything is about Hiccup today. He won the honour of killing a dragon! I still can't believe. Who would of thought that he would do it?" He said, without a doubt missing my intentions completely.

"Yeah that is pretty good..." I said with an almost annoyed tone.

"Oh don't be jealous Astrid. You have your entire future ahead of you to kill dragons. Don't worry I would have been jealous as well if I was in your position, hah." He stated with a light hearted tone trying to make me cheer up.

"Stoick, I don't want to ruin anything, but this is serious." I firmly explained trying to get him to snap out of his fantasy land and back into reality.

Stoick took notice instantly. The shine from his face faded, and he looked at me intently. "Did something happen to my boy?". A slight hint of worry began to build on his expression.

"Well, yes and no" I stuttered, quite nervous about hurting a happy man's feelings.

"Spit it out Astrid, if this has anything to do with Hiccup I, as a father, have the right to know." A bit of frustration coming out as he said that to me and he was right.

"Hiccup is planning on leaving." I said bluntly.

"What?" He replied in a confused manner, not expecting something like this. I thought he might not have even processed what I had said. He looked side to side with his eyes, as if physically trying to look for understanding.

"Hiccup is planning on leaving Berk, forever from what I could tell -" I tried to explain before I was cut off.

"Astrid, I am not listening to this rabble, I have much things to do right now in preparations for the big day. Hiccup would never leave us. He is one of us now. It was what he wanted for so long." The anger in his voice becoming very evident. While it was true that he wanted to be one of us, it was not true that he was one of us. He couldn't be, not after what I saw. This was not good. I didn't know what to say to convince him that I was telling the truth.

"Sir, I heard him talking to someone else, well at least he sounded like he was talking to someone unless he is crazy. He planned on leaving Berk." I tried again, but at this point it was becoming pointless.

"Astrid, I have had enough. You are blinded by your own jealousy. Now leave before I tell your parents about your disrespect." The irritation was radiating from him like strong waves of heat.

"All I ask is that you ask him about it. Maybe put an extra watch near the port please." I said completely ignoring his threat.

"Astrid." He stated. His hands were clenched into a fist. It looked as if he was ready to punch someone. Which could have been me.

I opened my mouth to try and say something, but stopped mid way as I knew it was pointless and it was best to probably bring this up later. I broke eye contact and I turned around and stormed away without saying a goodbye. This was bad. I couldn't get the chief to listen to me and now I had the added bonus of him looking at me negatively for quite a while. I wasn't even able to make him atleast put some lookouts near the points of exit of the island. I muttered another long string of curses. It just wasn't fair. Before anyone would have listened to me, even if it was an absurd claim. Now that Hiccup had won dragon training, everyone only believed him. My frustration was going to end up as a fist in someone's face if I didn't solve this problem. Then an idea presented itself. _I can tell the others, they will listen to me_. With that thought I ran off.

It was pretty obvious that all of them would be in the hall, especially Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The lot of them wouldn't pass up an opportunity for some extra meals. I decided to put my anger aside from when they started hanging out with Hiccup instead of me. I was left by them in the dark, for a traitor. It could be difficult getting them to listen, them being under Hiccup's 'spell' but I was sure they would come to understand and at least try to assist me.

I walked up the steps to the hall. I dragged my feet below me, my feet barely listened to me after all that running. They were demanding a break. All that work was taking its toll. It wasn't long before I entered the structure. I saw the gang sitting around one table. Fishlegs was reading, _what a surprise_. Snotlout was busy flexing and staring at his biceps. Ruffnut and Tuffnut, like always, were in some sort of argument. Sometimes I wonder why I even try with these people.

Snotlout finally came to realize how stupid he looked and stopped. He looked around wondering if anyone saw him and his eyes rested on me. "Hey Astrid!" He called out, completely forgetting about his previous embarrasment. I honestly did not want to deal with Snotlout, but I did not have much of a choice.

"Hey..." I called back. I approached the table and sat down making as much unnecessary noise as possible to get everyone's attention. I breathed a large heavy sigh. I had a hand up to my forehead while I was trying to come up with the right words.

"Finally came to celebrate?" I didn't reply. "Is there something wrong?" Asked Snotlout. If anyone else has asked me that I would've appreciated the concern, but him...

"No." I stated with irritation.

We sat there in silence, except for the twins who were still arguing about sheep or something. I stared into the table absent-mindedly. No one really expected this of me, and as a result no one was confident enough to speak up. To be honest, neither was I.

"It's about Hiccup..." I said.

That's when Fishlegs decided to speak up. "Astrid. For once maybe put aside your jealousy and accept that Hiccup did better. He won the honour of killing the monstrous nightmare fairly. There is absolutely no need to trample on his victory." Fishlegs was the only one out of all of us that actually somewhat cared about Hiccup. They were friends when they were young, but slowly drifted apart. He still cared enough for him to defend him like that.

This caused anger to rise in me because I knew the truth. "Hiccup is leaving Berk." I said, my calmness suprised me.

I received a "What?" from everyone, including the twins who stopped their fighting. Then the questions started.

"Is he allowed?"

"Why?"

"That's not true."

"How do you know?"

But Fishlegs' voice came out really loud and silenced the others. "Astrid, there is no need to lie about those things just because he bet you."

"Look, I'll accept that he bet me, but hear me out. I followed Hiccup into the forest. I heard him talk as if he was talking to someone else but I couldn't hear the other person. He said that he can't kill dragons and that he is going to leave Berk and never come back." I replied quickly. I waited for their responses a bit impatiently.

"Right, I have had enough of this lying, Astrid. I'm leaving." And with that sentence Fishlegs got up, book in hand, and left the table without saying another word. _I just hope the others will listen to me_.

"I don't have any problems, I am just telling the truth. Hiccup is leaving. I heard him say it myself. Worst of all I couldn't even get the chief to listen while he was blinded by pride." I said quickly again hoping that I won't be abandoned by anyone else.

"It's okay, I believe you Astrid." Snotlout said, although that didn't amount to much. _I could say I am a dragon standing right in front of you, and you will believe me in order to gain affection_, I almost said out loud.

"Okay, Ruffnut, Tuffnut do you at least believe me?" I asked the blond twins.

"Who cares!" Shouted Tuffnut.

"Yeah, so what if he leaves. It just gets rid of that laughing stalk." Supplemented Ruffnut.

I hated myself for what I did next, I tried to somehow defend him. "Look the chief already lost his wife and he is still decimated by that face. Imagine if he lost his only child as well." I explained to them.

"Wouldn't be much of a loss" said Tuffnut. I gave him a strong glare in response. He quickly got the message.

"So, supposing that what you are saying is true. What do you suggest we do then?" Inquired Ruffnut. I honestly didn't know. I had a faint idea of just watching Hiccup, but that wouldn't work well.

"Well we could watch all the exit points. I was thinking I could watch the port maybe with someone and then someone else could look out for Hiccup." I said as quickly as the idea came into my head.

"And stay up all night?" Asked Tuffnut. I nodded in response. They both dropped their arms and both let out a grunt.

"We were going to but now, yeah, no." Said Ruffnut both for herself and her brother. With that they both started arguing again without a care for about the world.

"Don't worry Astrid. I'll go with you." Said Snotlout. _Oh hell no, I do not need him with me._

"Can you just watch over the village and see if Hiccup turns up?"

"Anything for you." He replied with a 'loving' tone.

"Okay, great." I said. With that I left the hall. I would watch the docks all night. I will see if he would be there, and then I will receive answers. I treaded through the village. Everyone had mostly stopped celebrating and were back in their homes. There was some sunlight left and I headed down to the docks. I was just above the cliff edge looking over the row of boats docked at the port. From what I could tell, nothing of importance was missing. There were people unloading fish from some boats, so most likely Hiccup hadn't left yet. I decided to take a rest. I would watch the boats once everyone had left.

It wasn't long before the moon had fully replaced the sun in the sky. It was a cloudless night. The moon was full, and gave off a gentle light throughout Berk. This was to my benefit as I was able to see the row of ships clearly without much strain. I watched the ocean glimmer, little waves reflected the light of the moon. It was a beautiful sight and somewhat calmed me down despite the present situation. I shook my head, breaking myself from the hypnotizing beauty and looked at the way down to the docks. I waited.

It felt like forever before the sun came up. I hadn't moved and my entire body was aching in pain. I saw someone walking down to the ships. I got excited. Finally after waiting for so long I could finally punch his face. I grabbed my axe and ran through the pain. What I failed to realize was that it was morning, which meant people went to work. I stopped once I saw that it wasn't Hiccup. I was so angry. What was worse was that the lack of sleep was getting to me. I roared and threw my axe into the ground. I left it there and headed home.

It wasn't long before I was back in my bed. Luckily for me nothing was really going to happen in the morning. So I was able to get a few hours of sleep in.

One thing was certain, I did not see Hiccup.

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**A/N: I hope the characters didn't deviate too much from themselves.  
As always, leave a review for how I can improve my writing. Thanks.**


	5. Chapter 5: The House

**A/N: This chapter was the first in which I didn't struggle to write a lot. This chapter was the one with the biggest plan so far. There are a couple of vague things in this chapter which you will have to deal with, sorry.**

**(Response to reviews: I'm really happy with the responses I'm getting especially now that some of them actually criticize the writing and the story which is great.  
To those who said I don't understand Astrid's character. I know I portrayed her a bit too harsh in the previous chapter but that was kind of necessary. I have an analysis of her character and I'm pretty sure I stuck to it, unless I completely screwed everything up. Instead of saying I'm wrong maybe just point out the bits that seemed off, it would help more.  
It's nice to see how people interpret the story so far, it actually helps as I see if I'm leading the readers in the right direction.  
To who said I had some grammar mistakes, that probably meant I didn't re-read well enough so I tried harder with this one.  
I won't respond to questions regarding what will happen because that would ruin the story :). )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own 'How to Train Your Dragon' or any of its characters.  
(I doubt a legal team would go after me but who knows in this day and age.)**

**As always hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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Chapter 5: The House

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I woke up from a dreamless night. I slowly pulled my eyes open, only for them to be attacked by a bright light. I shut them again avoiding the pain. With my eyes still closed I sat up, I felt colder all of a sudden. I reopened my eyes slowly, allowing them to readjust to the onslaught of the sun. I figured out why I was feeling colder. I was sleeping on Toothless' side and benefited from the super heated salamander. Which meant that all of this was real. I had really done it... packed up and left my home without saying anything to anyone. Despite being relatively far away from the sea, a gust of wind managed to bring some of the sea to cover us which quickly put an end to my thoughts. This also caused Toothless to wake up.

He awoke with a start and jumped up landing on his four paws. He looked around cautiously at the surrounding area, as if trying to understand where he was. _Even a dragon can be as confused as people after waking up. Do dragons dream?_ The dragon looked over at me and once he had registered that it was me all the tension seemed to flow out of his body. He padded up to me pushing his face under my arm.

"Someone just wants some morning attention?" I asked softly. I gave in to his demands and started rubbing his head gently. He purred in response. It always made me happy to see him happy, even if it was for stupid or simple reasons. I smiled as I watched him close his eyes under me enjoying the sensations. He sometimes was like a large house cat, just one that could breathe fire and decimate entire villages. After a while I stopped scratching him and he returned a sad gaze. His eyes looked so innocent and wide, begging me to continue. I managed to pull away from his hypnotizing gaze. He gave out a loud huff and moved away from me when he realized I wasn't going to scratch him anymore. _Someone's moody._

I got up and wobbled on my two feet. My body was still sleeping but my mind was wide awake as there was much to do today. It took some time to get back into reality still not used to waking not waking up in a bed. I left camp and walked inland with Toothless trailing behind. I came upon a small enough lake, more like a big puddle. I looked at myself, my hair on one side was standing as a result of my sleeping position. I dumped my head into the water fully wake up and fix my hair. Toothless looked at me shocked at what I did. Of course, dragons hate getting their heads wet. _He knows it's not dangerous for me right?_ I ignored him and proceeded to fill up my water skin until no more water went in. Toothless also went up to the water and started drinking, loudly. It felt as if he did that on purpose to annoy me, it worked. The walk back to our makeshift camp was quiet. What did I expect, it was not like I was able to uphold a conversation with a dragon.

"Right bud, we're leaving this island." I said to him while I started rolling up my bedroll. He rumbled softly in return.

"Well, this island is barely big enough to fit the two of us. One storm and the island will be gone, no doubt about that. I also want to explore, my father never really let me leave Berk except for his 'family bonding' fishing trips, which I might add never turned out well." I explained as Toothless continued to look at me. His ears flickered as if trying really hard to pick up what I'm saying with a look of... determination?

Some more sea spray brought me out of that thought. Apparently even the island didn't want us here either and was trying to get rid of us. Once everything was packed up I threw the basket on top of Toothless and secured it tightly. He still didn't like the fact that he had to carry extra weight. He looked at it with disapproval and I had no clue why. I got up onto his back and seated myself onto the saddle. I barely had any time to get ready before we were up in the air.

Flying never gets old. _Well I don't think a couple of weeks is enough to say that..._ It was still as amazing as ever. The wind, the view and the feelings. It felt as if you were on top of the world and that nothing could stop you. I never wanted anything more from Toothless, just flying was enough. It was the greatest gift one could get. The island faded behind us, forever forgotten and probably would never be mentioned again. It wasn't even worthy enough to be on a map, so I wasn't surprised when it only took a couple of minutes to lose sight of it.

I honestly did not know where we were going. I assumed Toothless knew, but even then I wasn't so sure. I made sure we didn't go too far north or south as I didn't want any climate changes that could affect us. I doubted we would be able to fly away from the archipelago without a few days of travel so I wasn't worried about that. Despite how mesmerizing flying was, it was an active task. Even for riding a dragon I still had to be alert all the time and focused on my pedal position. This never allowed me to day dream and I wasn't able to delve into deep thought. Instead I focused on the puffy clouds or the dark blue sea below. It felt weird not to be afraid of such a fall, and I didn't know why I wasn't frightened.

It wasn't long before we arrived at another island. It was a lot larger than are previous island, although it would have been hard to find something smaller than that excuse for an island. From what I could tell it also wasn't that far from Berk as we were not flying in one direction. I did not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The island was raised from the sea similar to Berk. Each edge of the island that I was able to see ended in a cliff. It wasn't extremely high, but that fall would still kill a man. It was heavily forested and one side of the island was rocky with no plant life. There seemed to be fresh water inland I figured, otherwise there would be no animals here. We landed near the border between the rocky plains and the forest.

I took the basket off of Toothless' back and placed it on the ground. He was happy to get it off. I decided not to take off his saddle just in case, it didn't seem to bother him much thankfully. Toothless took the opportunity and collapsed on the rocky surface instantly. I looked at him questionably. It was mid day and I had to squint my eyes to keep them safe under the unrelenting light. Yet, Toothless was tired. _We didn't even fly for so long_. I decided to give the dragon some rest and left for the forest. I was confident that he would protect my things and help me if I needed it.

The trees were the exact same as the ones on Berk. If I didn't see the island from a distance I would have probably thought it was Berk. Although, this forest was darker than the one at home. I assumed this was because it was more dense with plant life. I heard the songs of birds, they were free and not stuck to the earth. I heard something in the bushes, but thought nothing of it and continued to walk into the forest. I made sure to walk in a relative straight line and smudged dirt onto the bark of trees to mark where I have been. I would have used a knife but...

It wasn't long until I reached a brown wall with vines growing on it. I decided to try and go around the dirt wall and continue my exploration. Until I realized that I was an idiot. That was no dirt wall, that was a wall of logs just very unclean. Which meant that it was a house or building of some sort... and someone was probably on this island. I did not know what to make of this. On one hand it could be good to have company, on the other I don't want to be murdered by a what looked to be a lonely viking. Cautiously, I walked around the house analyzing it. It didn't take a genius to know that it was abandoned for a very long time. I breathed a sigh of relief. It looked very familiar, but I couldn't place why. Time has taken its toll on the house, nature desperately trying to reclaim what was once hers. The walls were starting to rot and a bit of the roof has fallen off and laid on the ground never to serve its purpose again. I went to open the door but it was stuck. I gave it a stronger push and it just fell straight down with a large thump that echoed through the forest. Whatever kept the door in place had long since rotten away. The house was small, more like a hut. It had what looked to be the remains of a fireplace in the centre and there was still some furniture to be seen. It was only one big room and this appeared to be the only entrance.

It didn't look like anyone was here. It didn't look like anyone left. Everything seemed in place completely untouched. It was as if someone left their home with the intention to return but never came back. I decided that whoever was once here did not need their stuff anymore. _It will be more useful with me anyways, besides they were most likely gone forever anyways._ I decided to search the small drawer beside the bed first. In it I found some candles and a knife. The knife was in pristine condition. No sign of decay, as if it was fresh out of the forge. I inspected the knife, taking in all its attributes. It was extremely sharp, relatively light and well decorated. The handle was made of fine leather and decorated with some colourful rocks and the blade itself reflected my face like a perfect mirror. It also had some engravings that I couldn't make out in the dark.

I then left the drawer taking the knife with me and opened the only thing left to open, a chest. It was filled with clothes that were now rotting and smelled absolutely horrible. I would rather sit in a sheep's home. I dug through the chest and came upon an odd little book. It was titled 'My Travels' and written by... Even a book covered in clothes did not stand the test of time. I flicked through it and tried to make sense of anything. It was a waste of time, it was all smudged and falling apart. I went to put the book back but, the longer I looked at it, the more I felt like keeping it. I did not know why, maybe as a reminder of this place that seemed all too familiar or maybe the hope that I would have time to figure it out. Regardless, I left the house looking at it for one last time. It looked exactly like the ones on Berk...

I heard a howl that sent a shiver down my spine. It felt ominous, not like the peaceful howling at a moon but something... worse. _This is not good_. I ran back through the forest knife at the ready. I was worried for Toothless, he wasn't able to fly without me and if anything were to happen to him... I followed my dirt trail that I had smartly left behind and I exited out of the woods. I was relatively far away from Toothless and I could see that he was okay and still sleeping. That lazy salamander. My relief didn't last too long when I noticed a pack of wolves. Worst of all it seemed that they were stalking Toothless. I quickly picked up a rock and threw it at the closest wolf. I let out a silent breath of accomplishment when it hit the side of its muzzle. It's head turned so fast it could have gotten whiplash. I realized I was standing out in the open. Those yellow eyes seemed more illuminated than the rest of its body and behind them only one intent. I wasn't going to stick around to find out what that was.

I ran for my life and headed back into the woods. I could hear another howl and the sound of paws behind me. From the sound of it you could argue it was a stampede of wolves. You know, those things that murder everything and unlike dragons could probably not be reasoned with. I never ran so fast in my life. My legs barely kept up with me. Adrenaline gave me new speed and concentration I never knew I had. Despite all of that, the wolves were gaining on me. I could feel my heart beat throughout my entire body as if someone was squishing all the parts of my body and letting go with a fast rhythm. I kept running.

I reached what looked to be a small hill panting for air. It was steep to climb. I looked around and saw I drove myself right into a dead end. _Way to go Hiccup, you just killed yourself_. I looked at the wall of the hill. _No other choice, well I do have a choice but I'd rather not be dinner._ I started climbing the wall as fast as I could. My hands dug into the rocks to get a good grip and I could feel my palms bleeding already. I continued the climb up and I was about my height and a half above the ground. The wolves stopped. I looked at them with a smirk and chuckled to myself only to instantly regret it as one of the wolves jumped and grabbed my left boot. If I was terrified before then I did not know what I was then. I never felt such fear, not even when Toothless was about to kill me. The rock under my left hand gave way. The gods seemed to take some pity on me as the rocks that fell landed on the muzzle of the mutt on my boot. I proceeded to drag myself up the wall until I reached a ledge.

I rolled over onto my back. Taking in deep breaths and trying to get my heart to relax otherwise it would explode. After somewhat calming down I crawled to the edge of my safe haven and looked down. I was high enough for the wolves not to reach me, but it didn't look they were planning on leaving. At first they just waited. They stayed down below and just stared at me. This went on for a while because when I broke from their gaze the sun was just above the tree line, although I was a bit higher so it was likely much lower. I looked down again into the darkness from the light. The only thing I saw was five pairs of yellow eyes. I began to think of Toothless. I hoped he was alright. I couldn't die for him because he would die without me. I felt horrible. I had to force myself not to cry. I held my breath tightly hoping to hold back the tears. Until I heard a growl.

The wolves started walking away. I was so relieved. They finally got tired of me and I could finally relax. I laid down on the ground and looked out towards the forest. It was comforting until I saw the head of a wolf. I screamed and kicked it in the face and it fell. I didn't see it but I heard the landing. I risked a glance over and saw that the wolves were running up to try and climb and reach me. _The gods really want me dead don't they?_ I took out my knife and slashed at those accursed things whenever they successfully climbed the wall. This went on for a while and I was starting to lose hope. I was too tired to carry on, the adrenaline had ran out and I felt my entire body aching, begging for me to stop.

That was when I heard a loud roar, followed by a high pitched scream. _Finally somebody decided to wake up_. I looked down only to be blinded by a bright purple light. When my eyes recovered I only saw three wolves on the ground that were hit by the blast. _Looks like we are having fried wolf tonight._ The other two must have ran away in fear, oh how the tables had turned. I chuckled at that thought before finally collapsing from exhaustion.

...

I woke up still on the ledge. It was still dark outside, I couldn't see a thing and yet it was surprisingly warm. I got up and stretched my arms out only to hit something. I heard Toothless let out an annoyed grunt. _Oh._ It came to my attention that Toothless had climbed up to me and covered me. I fell back down onto the ground and the wings finally opened. Apparently I slept through the entire night as the sun was almost directly above us. I stood up only to collapse onto Toothless. He was there for me and let out a concerned rumble as if to ask what had happened.

"Well... You fell asleep and I went to explore the woods. I found a little house that was abandoned and searched through it. When I came back I saw wolves stalking you but you were still asleep. So I got there attention and ran, and now I am here." I explained to him. His ear frills twitched rapidly and he looked at me like when someone heard what you said and understood all the words but didn't expect to. He looked awkward. He shook his head and shoved his head under my arm and pulled me up.

"I don't know what I would do without you bud." I said casually and I received that same look and reaction again. He let out another grunt and looked back towards the forest as if to say we had to get going.

"Alright bud, just give me a minute." I said as I sat down in the saddle trying to regain control of all my limbs.

It wasn't long before we arrived back at the rocky field. I was stunned to see that all our stuff was exactly where I left it. More confused actually. I walked up to the basket and dumped everything I had taken from the house into the basket. I sat down and Toothless lied down beside me. I took out a fish and gave it to him while I ate some bread. After I was finished I washed it all down with some water.

"Toothless?" I called. I received standing frills in return.

"What happened to you? We flew for so little and yet it looked like you have flown for days non stop. Even when there were wolves you were still asleep. Care to explain?" I asked with some frustration leaking out. He chuffed and grunted as if to say that he was sick.

"So... You were sick and then you got better?" I inquired. I got a rumble of approval in return.

"I'm sorry Toothless, I shouldn't have went without you." I apologized sincerely. He recognized my apology and quickly tried to disregard it, clearly not blaming me for anything.

"I will have to learn how to defend myself don't I?", I said, "Something like that could happen again and..." Toothless quickly butted his head into my chest as if to tell me that he would never let something like that happen again. "Thank you, bud".

"Okay, we better get going then. I do not want to die on this island." I stated. It was true if we were to sleep there, we wouldn't wake up the following morning. Toothless didn't seem to fond about staying on the island either and with that we were off leaving the strange island behind.

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**A/N: Did you notice anything different in this chapter? I struggled not to reuse a lot of terms so I spent a while on what should have been quick and easy. Apologies for the massive note at the start.  
****As always please leave a review and tell me what you think of the story or the writing. Thanks.**


	6. Chapter 6: He's Gone

**A/N: Another Astrid chapter. These are going slower than Hiccup's chapters but so far I think they are not too slow. Let me know what you think.  
So far I am happy with how the story is going although I'm quickly derailing off my plan due to the fact to how the story naturally developed.  
I had a lot of trouble trying not to reuse phrases which when going over this chapter made me lose a lot of motivation but I got through.  
****As always, I hope you enjoy :).**

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Chapter 6: He's Gone

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I woke up a while later. I looked outside and saw that it was just past noon. The sun bathed the village and no cloud dared to stand up against its beautiful embrace. I still felt tired and my entire body still hated me for staying up all night. I had to get up soon, I never slept in this late and my parents wouldn't be to happy to find me still in my bed. I finally dragged myself out of bed and decided to get dressed despite my body's protests. That didn't matter as I never changed out of my clothes before I went to bed in the first place. I went and got myself some breakfast even though it wasn't morning anymore, my food was still on the table, although it was cold, I still wasn't going to let it go to waste. After my meal and some water my brain started functioning again. I needed to find Snotlout and ask him if he saw Hiccup and go down to the docks and check there as well.

I exited the house closing the door behind me with my foot. Everyone was going by their daily business, although a lot of them were heading towards the kill ring and I didn't know why. I headed down to the docks and picked up the axe I had left. I was lucky there was no rain otherwise it would have been ruined. No one dared to touch it, unless they wanted a bloody face. I ran down to the wooden docks and questioned if anyone has seen Hiccup. They all looked at me oddly until one replied. "Sure he's probably at the kill ring, he won the honour of killing the monstrous nightmare after all."

At that point I realized I probably didn't get enough sleep. Sure the ceremony was today, how could I have forgotten? I hit my forehead with my right palm. Chief Stoick wanted it done as soon as possible once he figured out his son did best in dragon training. I thought that pride he had never had before was beginning to come over him, but I didn't see that as a problem, no one ever saw him full of pride or happiness, especially towards his son, and no one definitely didn't want to be responsible as the one to take it away from him. As a result he wanted to see his son 'become a viking' as soon as possible. No one was really able to blame him for it, everyone wanted to see Hiccup the Deceiver in action.

Anyways, that meant that Hiccup definitely didn't go by the boats otherwise someone would have spoken up. With that out of the way I went to find Snotlout. It wasn't that hard. All I had to do was listen for someone boasting their massive ego and there you had Snotlout. The black haired viking was on his doorstep shouting something incomprehensible. He was most likely still tired if he stayed up all night. He took notice of me walking up to him.

"Oh hey, Astrid!" He called out wearily.

"Did you see him?" I asked in return wanting to finish this conversation quickly before it had even started.

"No I didn't. Honestly Astrid he's probably at the kill ring right now. I know my cousin pretty well, he's my cousin after all, and he wouldn't give up such an opportunity even though I should have obviously been the victor." Snotlout replied in return. There was a benefit to him being tired. He would spend less time hitting on me but in exchange his ego grows even worse if that was even possible at all. Honestly though, he might be right. Hiccup might have changed his mind, after all it would take a mad man to not take such an honour.

"Okay, I'm heading down to the kill ring." I said. I walked off quickly hoping to avoid Snotlout. Thankfully he didn't give chase. _Probably still tired, I should do things like this more often if it means less flirting_. There was a small amount of people heading towards the ring. Most of them were there already. It didn't take long for me to arrive at the hole in the ground that we call the ring. It was surrounded with metal bars and a metal chain for a roof to prevent the dragons from escaping. It wasn't safe as dragons could still breathe fire through it, but they always paid attention to the fighters in the ring. As I arrived everyone was chanting "Hiccup" over and over. The roar was loud that a headache developed in my tired head. Thankfully, it was too crowded for anyone to notice the most likely obvious purple bags under my eyes from the lack of sleep. Everyone looked to a raised platform of stone that was behind the ring at the wall of the cliff.

"Well I can show my face in public again." Said Stoick, arms wide as he stepped towards the edge of the platform looking onto the crowd. Everyone cheered in response. I knew Hiccup was a screw up but I somewhat expected his dad to at least somewhat care about him or at least not announce his disappointment in public. He most likely didn't know how bad that actually sounded, and as a result I almost began to feel sorry for Hiccup. _No, he was a mess and he cannot deny that, and there's a chance he betrayed us all._ Stoick held out his hand and everyone went quiet, waiting for him to say something.

"If somebody told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup, would go from well being uhh... Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training. Well I would have tied them to a mast and shipped them off for fear they have gone mad!" Stoick shouted and the crowd responded well. They all would have done the same thing.

"But, here we are... And no one is more surprised or more proud than I am." He said becoming more soft. "Today my boy becomes a viking. Today he becomes one of us!" His pride booming across the entire crowd that resonated in their own pride for Hiccup.

I walked down to the entrance to the ring to apologize to Hiccup for being a bit mean to him. I realized that he may have been training with someone else and that his trainer was leaving. I probably jumped to conclusions too quickly. I look and saw Gobber, but I didn't see Hiccup.

"Have you seen Hiccup, Lass?" Gobber asked me with a bit of worry.

"No. I haven't seen him since yesterday evening." I replied. I decided to leave the part out about him leaving for now.

"Ah, he probably slept in again." Gobber responded with a shake of his head clearly a bit annoyed.

I knew that he wasn't at his house. Snotlout kept watched and I knew he wouldn't have fell asleep. I didn't see him in the docks. Stoick would have certainly woke him up if he had slept in. The only option was that he was still in the woods. Which was bad, if he managed to screw this up...

"Is he ready?" Asked Stoick. He was now sitting on a large stone carved throne above the kill ring.

"Eh... He's not here Stoick." Gobber replied with some confusion. "You didn't see him in the house this morning?"

"No, I assumed he was here..." Stoick said with his voice trailing off near the end. His face was one of deep thought and then worry. The crowds were starting to murmur and have doubts about Hiccup again.

Stoick quickly got up from his seat and began giving out orders. "I want search parties organized now. One will search the town and docks, one will search one side of the island the other party the other side of the island. Go!" He then looked at me. He remembered what I had said yesterday, and now he was going to want answers._ Great._

People quickly began organizing themselves into groups and hurriedly headed off back towards the village and the forest. I waited for the chief to come to me. He arrived shortly. His face was so full of hate as if I was the sole person responsible for Hiccup's disappearance. _Even when he is not here he still causes problems_.

"I want you to tell me everything." He said in a commanding tone. His face was stern and serious. I felt intimidated but tried my best not to show it. I guess it was best to tell him the truth. _Even though I already tried to do that, but at least now he is listening._

I let out a sigh. "I noticed that Hiccup kept on disappearing after training and I only saw him for food in the hall or in the arena. At first I didn't think of it as much but when he started getting better I became suspicious, and admittedly, a bit jealous. I tried to get him to talk about his sudden improvements but he didn't say anything. After he won the honour of killing the monstrous nightmare I decided to follow him into the woods to find out why he was so good. I assumed he was training with someone. I came upon where Hiccup went and hid. I couldn't see what was going on but he was talking to someone. He was saying he was going to take a vacation forever and that he couldn't kill dragons. I didn't hear anyone else but it sounded like he was talking to someone else. I then accidentally made a sound and decided to run back to you, hoping you knew something about it or could prevent it. When you told me off I decided to take matters into my own hands. I convinced Snotlout to watch the village all night and I watched the docks. We stayed up all night and saw nothing. So unless he left before I managed to make it to the docks before me, which I doubt, he is still on the island."

Gobber and Stoick listened carefully throughout my story. "Okay, so he is most likely on this island and we will find him. Then I will question him. Go help with the search." Stoick said to me, his voice void of any emotions.

I nodded in response and headed back to village. I joined up with Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Fishlegs was quite worried about Hiccup. Snotlout, however, began boasting about how he was going to become heir. I first thought that it would be better until he mentioned he would marry me. _Oh Hel no._ After hearing that I definitely wanted to find Hiccup, in spite of my previous hate towards him. We headed down to where I heard Hiccup before but after a quick glance found nothing of interest. The hole in the ground was empty and that's all we had to care about. No one was there so why bother. We proceeded to explore the forest. Snotlout walked clumsily the entire to to focused on his own ego which was becoming very irritating. After a couple of hours the entire island was searched and Hiccup was not found, much to Stoick's distraught.

Everyone gathered around the center of the village and everyone was saying they found no trace of Hiccup. They didn't even find clothes or anything. There was a lot of murmuring as to why Hiccup would disappear. Some began speculating that he ran away while others thought he was killed or taken by a dragon. Neither of these were good. Shortly after Stoick arrived and everyone went quiet.

"We will do another search tomorrow." Stoick said, his voice was breaking a bit. He took in a large breath. It seemed like he didn't have the words, but we all knew he was beginning to break. Gobber came up to him and put his functioning hand on his shoulder trying his best to comfort his friend.

"Chief!" someone called out breaking the silence. Everyone in the crowd turned towards the direction of the sound. There was a viking running from the docks panting heavily. "You might want to come and see this." He said urgently.

This broke Stoick from his depressive trance and he instantly began to follow the dock worker. He wasted no time at all and didn't say a thing. A large portion of the crowd followed after him, me included. We all arrived at the docks. Some decided to stay at the top while some followed Stoick. The gang and I also went down to get a better grasp of the situation.

"What's going on here?" Stoick asked loudly. He had a bit of anger in his voice but it was completely overshadowed by sorrow.

"Sir, a broken fishing boat washed up near the docks. By the looks of it, it was one of ours. It looks like it was blown up." Replied one of the dock workers.

Stoick pushed through the crowd to the edge of the docks. I followed quickly behind taking advantage of him pushing the other vikings to the side. I saw pieces of boat floating near the docks, pulsing back and forth with the waves. The main body, what was left of it, was dragged onto one of the piers. Most of the wood from the boat was burned and looked mostly like a pile of splinters. It looked mangled. Some cloth was spared which showed that it was one of our boats. Everyone started piecing everything together. Whispers confirmed that we all had the same thoughts. Hiccup left by boat and was killed by something. The word 'dragon' was whispered a lot.

I turned to look at Stoick. I heard him whisper, "_oh no_". He head his head hanging. He was destroyed. Everyone stopped their conversations and looked at him. This was the first time I saw tears in the man's eyes. He was said to only have cried once before, and that was when Valka was taken. Now both of them were gone.

"Call off the searches for H-Hiccup." He said almost in a whisper. He then walked away from the docks, dragging his feet along the ground, defeated. The vikings also silently parted, allowing him through. I sat down on the docks staring at the boat. Soon after, everyone had went home. Silence overtook the village in a tight grasp.

Meanwhile, I was lost in deep thought. I stayed up all night and didn't spot Hiccup. The same amount of boats were there. Before I started watching and right now, nothing has changed. Unless he somehow managed to get out of the forest faster than I did. I felt horrible. Not only did I waste my time by staying up all night, I had also failed. It was partially my fault now that Hiccup had died. I could have stopped him and I didn't. I could have spoken up in the forest and questioned him but I decided not to. I spent too much time trying to convince Stoick and the others instead of watching the boats. That runt was so fast even I couldn't keep up with him.

I looked at the destroyed vessel again. Absolutely no mercy was given to it. I saw no blood which made me more suspicious. I wanted to be suspicious, that meant that Hiccup could be alive. The lack of blood simply meant he might have jumped off or fell of before any blood could get on the boat.

At this point I was beginning to break down. _Why am I getting so upset over a little runt and possibly a traitor?_ I did not know. The emotions took over and I grabbed my axe and decided to go into the forest. I ignored the strange looks I got from the villagers and continued until I entered the forest. It was darker than before under the same amount of light.

At first I planned to train. I had to occupy my mind and taking my anger out with some axe throwing would have worked well. Subconsciously, my mind had different ideas. I found myself walking towards the place where I had heard Hiccup the other day. I allowed myself for once to actually look at the place. It looked nice. It was surrounded by walls, had a large lake in the middle and a couple of trees. _I wonder if this is where Hiccup spent all his time_. I definitely thought he trained here with someone. There was no other possible explanation to why he was so good.

I searched for the entrance to this strange place. I came across a narrow entrance with a shield lodged in between two rocks. I looked at it and recognized it as one of the shields from the arena. I tried giving it a shove but it didn't move, it was as stubborn as a viking. I crawled under the shield and made my way towards the lake. As I walked around the cove I noticed many odd black things on the ground. They looked like volcanic rocks and were relatively flat. I picked one up and held it up towards the light. _This would be a nice souvenir_. It looked like a black mirror and I saw myself in it.

I was quickly distracted a bright reflection near some red grass caught my eye. Curiosity drove me towards it. To my horror, I quickly discovered that the grass was not red, it was covered in blood. It was dry. Beside the unpleasant splotch of red there was that shine. It was a knife. One edge was covered in dried blood while the other looked clean. I looked at it closely, fear and curiosity fighting within me. Curiosity won and at that point I wish it hadn't.

It was Hiccup's knife. The one he always carried. Here it was, covered in blood. _Hiccup was on the boat, no? Yet there is blood here and his knife. Whose blood? Did a dragon take Hiccup and fight him here?_ At the word dragon I looked at the black stone I had picked up earlier. It wasn't a stone. It was the scale of a dragon. I started slowly walking backwards. I ran out of the cove, scale and knife in my hands. I held the scale so tightly that it caused a small amount of blood to run along my hand. _Hiccup was taken by a dragon._

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**A/N: Dun dun...  
Review or else...**


	7. Chapter 7: New Home

**A/N: Here is another Hiccup chapter. Sorry for the wait. Life has been getting in the way. Anyways I'm quite happy with how the descriptions turned out.  
I'm still slightly frustrated that all my chapters are compact, but honestly it's the only way I can write well, otherwise it would just be useless filler.  
The adventures of Hiccup and Toothless continues!  
(Updated as of chapter 10, fixed grammar)**

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Chapter 7: New home

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I watched as the strange island disappeared into the distance behind us, never to be seen again. Once again, we were greeted by the vast expanse of the sea and its total emptiness. No islands to be seen indicated that we were officially away from the cluster of islands near Berk. I relaxed at this thought as it meant we most likely would not be found by my ex-village. I do not want to see them for a long time. It was odd that the sun was still shining completely unopposed. Rarely did the archipelago have good weather and a couple of days of sun in a row was something only the gods could will and perhaps they did.

Toothless glided gently on the air just below the clouds. Even though I sat on Toothless, there was still an ethereal feeling of weightlessness. We were high enough that no one would spot us unless they were actively searching... and had really good eyesight, so as far as I was concerned we were safe. Something I didn't feel for a very long time. Not even at home. Maybe because of the constant threat of the raids, both human and dragon, but for some reason it didn't feel like that was the reason. The only snippets of safety that I felt during my time on Berk was when I was with Toothless, but they were always overshadowed by my life in the village. Now that Berk and the weird island were dealt with, I felt safer than ever, even if there was a good couple of hundred metres between me and the water and the only thing keeping me from plummeting to my demise was a black dragon.

I didn't know what I did to deserve this dragon. I shot him down, ruined his left tail fin and he can't fly without me for the rest of his life, and now on top of carrying me he was also carrying this basket and made very little objections. He protected me, even though I was the one responsible for the elimination of his flight. If only I knew why. I scratched him on the side as a way to show my thanks and received a rumble that sounded like a question.

"Just a thank you for everything" I said to Toothless. In return he let out a soft rumble as if to say thanks as well.

"For what are you saying that for?" I asked, now genuinely curious at the dragon's intentions. He just gave out a huff as if I should know why.

"What? But I didn't do anything for you. If anything you did everything for me. I hurt you and yet here you are helping me endlessly and protecting me when I don't deserve it." I began to ramble before Toothless gave a small roar telling me to shut up. Clearly he didn't see it my way.

"So bud, about that sickness... What actually happened?" I inquired trying not to sound so demanding and changing the subject since the other conversation was going nowhere. In return I got a dragon's equivalent of a shrug and an 'I don't know' sigh.

"How do you not know? Especially that you only recovered in what... A couple of hours?" I said a bit frustrated. I received a slap to the face by one of his ears. "Right, okay, we will talk about that later." I replied rubbing a hand idly where I got unjustly hit.

We flew for a while my eyes gazed upon the waters below before Toothless initiated another conversation. He gave out a soft high pitched rumble full of curiosity as if to ask what I was doing back on the island.

"You want to know what I was doing before I was almost ravaged by the wolves?" I asked with a hint of accusation for him not being there. He huffed a yes in response ignoring my discontent.

"Well, I explored the woods and I found this weird shack. It was similarly built to the ones on berk. I checked inside and found an old book that had almost rotted away. I couldn't make out anything in it but still took it. It looked as if that place was abandoned for decades. Yet I found a knife in perfect condition as if it was fresh out of the forge, it is quite beautiful as well.", I began to explain my companion, "Then I headed back to camp and found you sleeping while wolves were stalking you. I was scared and didn't want to see you hurt so I got their attention to get them away from you and ran. I reached a dead end and climbed up a cliff. Thanks for coming by the way, I was very tired by then."

He crooned a sorry and thanks below me. "Think nothing of it bud." I said scratching his side. We are both willing to protect each other, even if it means death.

We flew for hours. The sun already repositioned itself high above the sea turning it into a bright blue hue only leaving the middle white. That was when I spotted a dark spot among the blinding white. "Over there bud." I called out to Toothless. He turned and I shifted gear with him on instinct as one unit.

We reached the island and hovered above it. It was very large. Not as big as Berk but it would have enough space for a village. Around it there were many sea stacks and one or two modestly sized islands. The main island had no direct access to the sea. We flew around the island and I began to map it in my mind. All the edges were cliffs that would lead to certain doom. This was good as no one could reach it. One side of the island had a large mountain that seemed unnatural. It was as if this once a grand landmass worn down by the ruthlessness of time, mountains like that don't happen on islands. Past the mountain towards the sea was just a rocky mess. No life at all, just barren piece of land. The other side of the island had a flat grassland that looked fertile. The rest was covered in a dense forest, different from the one on Berk. Something else caught my eye though. There was one large tree near the centre of the island, not much bigger than the others but still noticeable.

"I think this could be the place Toothless." I said excitedly and his rumble of agreement joined in on the excitement. We both landed on the grassy side of the island. The green field was large and flat only filled with grass and nothing else. I got off Toothless but didn't take the basket off of him. He looked at me as if questioning what I was going to do.

"Well bud, there is still plenty of daylight left and I want to explore this island. You are coming with me this time, I really do not want a repeat of my last encounter." I explained to him. He nodded in reply and followed closely behind me.

It wasn't long until we reached the entrance to the forest. It was a lot different to the one on Berk. There were so many different types of trees, it was as if someone gathered them from all over the world and placed them here. It was refreshing not to be looking at the same tree over and over. As we entered the forest the grass was no longer an obstacle for walking as it was in the field but the roots of the forest took its place. Despite the forest being dense it allowed more light in than the one on Berk. I noticed something else different in this forest. It was the song of the birds. Something so rare on Berk. They let out their handful of notes above us as we traveled on the soft ground below. There was no coherent melody to their song, just random pitches. Yet, I was hypnotised by their song. No words were spoken and yet was filled with so much passion and emotion. Their angelic voices make the song beautiful, worthy for the choirs of Valhalla, they did not deserve a place here, only among the gods.

As well as the beauty above, the ground also provided its own source of beauty, but it was only for the eyes. The flowers below gently guided me into the forest. The different colours bloomed together with no struggle and it took strain off the eye of any observer. I continued through the forest of calm as the flowers provided a path. If I hadn't seen it from above, I would have thought that I was in the forest of the gods.

The old leaves abandoned from their homes crunched below me and softened the travel among the trees. Forever discarded by their home, just like me. The open air greeted me as I reached a large lake. It was almost perfectly circular. It was clear and despite its depth I was able to see the bottom of the lake. The fish stayed clear of the sand around the lake knowing that it was not safe. "This place is amazing isn't it?" I asked Toothless as I stopped, hand on my hips admiring the view. He let out a soft croon agreeing with me without a doubt.

I noticed the tall tree I saw before from above. It wasn't much taller than the others but what was most interesting was how its leaves were spread out far and wide in a circle covering a large area like a mushroom. Toothless and I walked up to the tree and I began to inspect it. It was old, very old... and yet still alive. Probably the only living thing that can put up a fight against time. By now the sun was just above the trees and soon was going to leave us alone until the next day.

I collapsed onto the ground and my back rested on the tree bark. Toothless went up me to and nudged me and then looked towards the basket on his back. I forgot didn't I? I groaned as I got up and took the basket off his back and let it collapse onto the ground.

"You'll be fine if I leave the saddle on you right?" I asked the black dragon. He nodded in response and laid down beside me. My body still had not recovered from the day before and still needed rest. I didn't fight it and soon sleep overtook me.

...

I woke up the next day with a start. Toothless, as a result, also got pulled from his slumber. We ate breakfast quietly. I looked into the basket and saw that our food was running low, we soon had to start to hunt if we were to survive.

"Bud we're going to run out of food soon. We should start hunting before we run out just in case." I explained to my friend. He looked at me and nodded.

I left our stuff under the tree as I was confident it would still be there when we returned. I called Toothless and explained that I wanted to explore some more. He agreed and continued to follow me as he did yesterday. I kept track as we walked through the woods. I took out the flawless knife I found earlier and decided to mark some of the trees we went by. I walked up to the first tree and cut it. Except I hadn't, it felt like I was swinging it through the air, I must have missed it. Yet I looked at the tree and there was a deep cut in the bark. I looked at the knife, a bit of fear was creeping up as I thought how easily it would cut through flesh. I caught myself out of that thought and wondered if it could cut harder materials so freely. Putting my mind to rest, we continued through the woods.

My mind was stopped just as I had stopped before the large mountain. It didn't take long to reach it. The mountain was all different shades of grey, except for the very top where the grey was punished for reaching so far up into the sky, for bridging the gap between earth and sky, and so was covered with numbing snow. I still was not able to understand how this mountain came to be. Mountains are only really seen on large landmasses or volcanic islands, yet this island was none of those. Maybe it was part of the odd god-like atmosphere of this island. This mountain, however, prevented my explorations from going any further towards the other end of the island. I decided to explore the sides of the mountain, I hoped to find something interesting.

After a couple of hours of walking here and there and looking at the mountain, I decided it was time to go back. My eyes were starting to hate the colour grey. The mountain was not alive, it lacked colour and it was not pleasant to observe. I walked through the forest carefully avoiding all the roots on the ground. When I escaped the hold of the forest I looked to the sky. I saw some clouds starting to form, returning from their previous banishment. It seemed that our streak of good weather was finally coming to an end. To make it worse, winter was fast approaching and this place would experience the merciless onslaught of winter.

I sat down on the sandy ground, idly grabbing sand in my hand and letting it pour as I watched the fish swim in the lake. They flailed their tails side to side and moved through the water as a dragon did through the air, beautifully and effortlessly.

"Hey bud?" I called out. Toothless turned his head and looked at me, waiting patiently for what I had to say next. I still find it ironic that the only thing that ever listened to me was a dragon.

"We need to build a shelter if we are going to live here.", I explained to him, "So if you can start helping me by perhaps bringing some trees that would be great."

Toothless quickly got up excitedly. He seemed eager to show off his strength (to fuel his ego) and quickly ran towards the forest spraying dirt into the air in the process. Meanwhile I got up and started to look for some other materials. I found what I needed for makeshift rope and used the knife to carve it out. Despite the thick material, the knife cut through as if nothing was there. Intrigued, I looked at the knife again. I saw an engraving on it, "HHH". I dropped the knife upon seeing this. WHAT IN THOR'S NAME. I stood there, not daring to move. It was just a coincidence, nothing else. It took me a while to reassure myself. I picked up the knife and continued what I was doing, desperately trying not to think about whatever that knife was.

After some time I heard the rustling of leaves behind me. I turned around to see Toothless dragging an entire tree towards me, the burnt end in his mouth. That reminded me to never get on his bad side, ever. I told him to get more as I began to prepare the logs for the frame of what honestly was going to be a little shack. Although I planned to use the large tree as a corner to the house. There were many reasons for this. One, it was a large solid wall which saved time and effort. Two, despite its height, its unique arrangement of leaves shielded the ground below, so that even if I managed to screw up the roof, it would still be relatively dry.

By the time we had prepared a nice amount of logs I asked Toothless to dig some holes to support the logs. He looked at me as if to say 'do I have to do everything?'.

"Sorry bud, I don't like being dependent on you and you know that. I got nothing to dig with and my hands wouldn't even penetrate the surface." I explained. Toothless crooned in understanding and began digging. After he moved on to the next place I asked him to dig I started putting up the logs. This continued for a couple of hours before we had a nice makeshift shelter. It wasn't perfect, but it could fit both of us. Although the wooden walls were not able to keep everything out due to the gaps in between the branches but that would be something I would fix later. The roof seemed okay, it was mainly made of leaves but I planned for this to be only temporary.

With still some daylight left I decided to make on my promise that I would be at least somewhat able to defend myself. One slight problem, I didn't have a weapon. I had the knife but no way I was going to practice with something that sharp, unless I wanted to kill myself. I went over to one of the spare branched and began to carve out a wooden replica of the knife I held. Meanwhile Toothless was fishing in the lake, which provided a nice amount of entertainment when he got frustrated. I got a funny scene of him stamping his two front paws full of anger as he couldn't catch the fish. I let out a chuckle and he turned his head towards me so fast he should have got whiplash. Oh no. He approached me quickly giving me no time to react. He pounced on me and began to lick me for revenge. I was helpless below him as he tickled me. After a while he relented and I tried to get rid of his slobber.

"Okay, I get it, no laughing at your misfortunes." I said and Toothless nodded in return.

"Hey Toothless, will you help me train? You know I can't rely on you all the time. I carved a wooden dagger here just for practice." I explained to my dragon friend. He huffed as if to say he would always protect me but he still decided to help.

Our training started. At first we silently agreed for me to learn how to dodge. This mostly involved me trying to avoid Toothless. Firstly we mainly focused on dodging his charges. Those were easy as a dragon wasn't easily able to suddenly turn on the ground, especially if they were going fast. The only problem I had was that tail. Oh the tail. The first time he tripped me he didn't even warn me. He then warbled as if to say that I should be aware of everything. So I began training against both charges and the tail. The charges I could handle after only little training but the amount of times I was tripped by his tail and given a direct trip to the ground was annoying. I fell too many times to count, and every single time accompanied with a playfully mocking laugh.

Needless to say, I was exhausted after that. I went into our new home and fell on the ground. We had no floor and I had no bed, but at that point I was too tired to care. As Toothless lied down beside me I moved closer to him and slept right beside him as he put a wing over me.

I never felt so safe in my life.

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**A/N: As always please leave a review. They are like drugs that keep me going.**


	8. Chapter 8: Revelation and Suspicion

**A/N: Two months. I'm sorry, my life went down the toilet in the past two months and I had no time to write at all. When I eventually got back to writing it was extremely slow as my rythm was ruined. This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I'm splitting it in two simply because I will be out of commission for another two weeks and at that point it would definitely have been too long.  
Anyways, another Astrid chapter which will most likely be followed by another one. Once I have dealt with this part of the story Berk will most likely be receiving less attention as the story focuses more on Hiccup  
The sadness continues!**

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Chapter 8: Revelation and Suspicion

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_Hiccup was taken by a dragon._ I was in the forest under the shade of the leaves clutching the knife and scale in my hands. I was running without any awareness of my surroundings like the world was a blur. My legs carried me with a mind of their own as the mind they relied upon had abandoned them. The mind was occupied only by thoughts about Hiccup. _Who knew that even when he is gone, the runt could still cause chaos_. At that point, I didn't know what to think. There were too many questions and I feared that too many would go unanswered. I was ensnared by indecision in my thoughts. What happened earlier today at the docks and what I saw in the cove were the cause of my mental feud. A battle raged in my mind, truly trying to evaluate the situation I was in. There was no doubt that, again, I would have to go to Stoick, which I honestly didn't want to do. Stoick was most likely not in the best condition to have a discussion about his son, but it would have to be done.

I slipped back into reality, realising that I was only half way back to the village and just as fast as I had slipped into reality I fell back into a deep think. There was no way that the fishing boat was related to this. As far as I knew that boat may have had someone else on it. _But who? No one else is missing._ That put an end to that theory. Maybe it just floated off by accident and forgotten about, after all it was a small boat. It had to be a coincidence, something didn't add up. I doubted that a dragon would destroy a boat and bring back its prey to the mainland to have a fight with it. I looked at the knife. The blood was dry and it was impossible to tell if it was human or dragon blood. I really hoped it was the latter.

Despite the boat situation it was clear that Hiccup had fought a dragon down there. Neither body was there though, Hiccup's or the black dragon's. There was clear evidence of fighting in that place, as if the blood wasn't enough, there were scorch marks and the ground looked disturbed in many places. It seemed that the ground itself was a participant in the struggle. That fight must not have been pretty at all. I shuddered at the thought of a dragon mauling Hiccup. The most likely situation, considering there were no bodies, is that Hiccup was taken or eaten by the dragon. It didn't matter, both options resulted in him being dead. I didn't know how I felt about that, or how I wanted to feel about that.

Finally, my mind exited from its state of thought, no longer willing to stay there. It was as if I had awoken from sleep, except that I was running. It wasn't long before I escaped from the green embrace of the forest and found myself on the outskirts of the village. Taking in a deep breath to calm down, which failed, I slowly walked towards the village. I had no idea how to approach the situation I was in. Of course, I had to be the one to figure something out. Now, I was in the uncomfortable position of explaining to the chief that I had found remnants of his son. _Great._

I approached the docks once more still taking in deep breaths. I stayed up there throughout the previous night. That boat must have left before I endured the long watch. There was no way he was fast enough to leave like that... _Unless he left straight away with whoever he was talking to._ Wasn't he with someone? At this point my brain was going to become mush if I chased these thoughts and decided to put them at rest. I had a chief to talk to, and I would need to be stable for that.

Walking through the village I had walked through so many times before felt odd. There was no bustling in the streets. Even if most of the village disliked Hiccup they still held some respect for him, if not for him then at least for the chief, which was probably the stronger of the two. Although, I was pretty sure most people were happy or going to be happy that Hiccup was gone. If anything it meant less crazy contraptions and less damage during the raids. It was best not to voice these thoughts out loud, and everyone would be aware of that.

I stared at the chief's house and what was once Hiccup's as well. Sighing I went up to the door and knocked hard twice. I got only silence in return. I breathed in and knocked hard again. Not long after, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps slowly getting louder. The door was opened slowly and gently. Stoick looked out and when his gaze rested on me, his face contorted into a frown. I looked into his eyes and in them I saw only sorrow and anger.

"What do you want, Astrid?" Stoick said sternly as he did not approve of my presence. "I do not want to talk about anything..." The broken man trailed off at the end. I was at a loss for words. What do I say to the father of a son who's cause of death I know?

As a result of my silence he believed that I was here for selfish reasons. "Astrid, if you're here to use this as an opportunity to kill the dragon, I will personally oversee that it would not happen." Stoick said truthfully. Maybe some part of that was true. Now that Hiccup was gone I could get what I wanted. Before, I would have been fine with a trade like this, but now I was not so sure if I truly wanted it. I shook my head in response which seemed to surprise him.

"I found this." I replied as I held out Hiccup's blood covered dagger. It was balanced on the palm of my hand to show it clearly. He reached out carefully towards the knife and grasped the handle before bringing the knife in front of his eyes. I didn't know what shocked him more, the fact that I found Hiccup's knife or the blood covering it. His eyes narrowed as I assumed he was thinking and formulating theories of his own.

I stopped him before he could think much longer and I held out the dragon scale. "I found this as well." I told him. He took the scale and began twisting it between his fingers.

"Is this a..." He began not able to finish his sentence. "Yes it is a dragon scale, although I don't know what dragon it is from." I said as he struggled to produce the words, "I found these in the woods, it was clear that a battle took place. I didn't find Hiccup or the dragon or any trails."

It didn't take him long to piece a theory together. "So a dragon took him..." He began while looking at the blood covered knife, "... And he tried to fight back." The knife fell from his hands along with the scale as I assumed he came to the full realisation of what had occurred. The clatter of the objects against the ground seemed to reflect the fall of Stoick's emotions. The loudness of the clatter was amplified by the sadness in the air. He looked at me with teary eyes and I knew what he wanted of me and I simply left, leaving him to deal with his emotions alone.

_That went better than I thought it would... as well as it could go._ I decided to go into the hall to get some food as I was in the forest for most of the day and my body was demanding a break. My walk towards the great doors was silent and uneventful which was an uncommon occurrence.

To my surprise, the hall appeared entirely unchanged. It was as if Hiccup's disappearance didn't have a profound effect. I slowly made my way to our table and on my way I swear I overheard some people celebrating Hiccup's disappearance. _Sure he messed up a lot but was he really that bad?_ _Yes he was. _The only table that did not appear normal was the one with Gobber. He was sitting alone which was rare in itself and he didn't have his usual cheer to him.

Shaking my head I sat down at the table and began picking at my food, contemplating everything that had occurred. Apart from Gobber's table it appeared that our table was the only other silent table paying respects to Hiccup, or maybe just Stoick and his loss. I ate the food on my plate amongst the silence. It felt odd, normally a conversation would be held but the atmosphere was empty. It was only when I was finished my food and prepared to leave Snotlout spoke up.

"Why did he try to leave anyway? He was starting to do well in the ring." Snotlout said interrupting the silence, "What was he, too coward to face a monstrous nightmare?"

It surprised me that even in his death Snotlout still managed to degrade Hiccup. "You call him a coward and yet you were his number one fan when he started doing well if I remember correctly." I said exactly as the thought came into my head.

"So what? He was still a nuisance, no one saw him much anyways." Replied Snotlout dismissively. As I was about to respond the doors of halls opened and the chief was standing at the opening. He walked in with many more villagers following him. _Looks like he called a meeting._

Stoick walked up to the top of the hall and stood facing everyone. His face could only have been described as miserable and defeated. His stance also seemed to be off, where before he stood with confidence his should were slumped and he wasn't standing completely upright.

"I have called this meeting to discuss the recent... events" Stoick said, struggling to get out the last part. His voice was quieter than usual and that made me uncomfortable. "Astrid came to me not that long ago with information regarding Hiccup." He continued, the hall remained silent and I received a few glances.

"Apparently, she had located Hiccup's dagger in the woods." Stoick began, his words coming out slowly. Stoick was then interrupted as a result of his pause by a shout from one of the vikings from the crowd, "And what does that have to do with the boat?"

"Astrid found the dagger covered in blood" Stoick said while holding out the dagger to the crowd, although only the closest to him were able to clearly see the blood stained dagger. "And in that location she also located some dark dragon scales and told me there was clear evidence of a sign of a battle." He proceeded, this time he held out the single black dragon scale.

"And was the boy or the dragon there?" Another viking from the crowd shouted.

At that point I had decided to speak up and I stood up from my seat. "There was no sign of Hiccup nor the dragon he most likely faced and there were no trails surrounding the area either." I spoke out, allowing the chief to take a break from speaking which he gladly took. "I think it is safe to assume that Hiccup encountered a dragon in the woods and fought it, as evident with the blood and scales. With the lack of trails, I'm assuming Hiccup was taken by the dragon for Thor knows what reason." I continued while trying to keep myself calm, public speaking wasn't one of my strong points.

"And what do you make of the boat situation?" Came another voice to which I replied truthfully, "I do not know what to make of the boat."

With that said I sat back down and the entire hall erupted into conversation. Stoick didn't do anything about it and most likely decided to let the ideas develop. One thing was sure, the boat and cove situation didn't make sense. It seemed there was one crucial detail we were missing but no one knew what it was.

The conversations continued as many hours passed. Many theories and ideas were formed and forgotten. It seemed that the boat was evidence that Hiccup had planned to leave, or someone lost us the boat and refused to own up to it. That was one fact that seemed to be accepted, except the question was still there, why would he leave? Sure he was neglected, but not that badly was the consensus. After all, he wanted to be accepted but once he received what he wanted, he left.

The hall silently agreed to accept that the question will most likely never be answered. The debate deviated to the situation I had come upon in the cove. I was asked many questions in the ensuing talks, most of it was just confirmation of what I saw. It wasn't long until the villagers came to a general agreement. There were two situations. The first was that the untying of the boat was an accident of some sort and Hiccup was simply taken to the woods. The second was that he was on the boat, attacked and taken by the dragon back to the island where they most likely fought. It didn't really matter, both of these results ended up in Hiccup ending up dead. How he died was not something I wanted to think about, or anyone else for that matter.

Eventually the conversations ended, it was already dark outside and the chief was prepared to wrap things up. I didn't know how well the chief could take the situation, but for the tribe he continued on. "As we have come to an agreement regarding the recent events, we will hold a funeral for... Hiccup" Stoick said struggling to say his son's name. "I have sent word to the other tribes regarding the situation and asked if anything regarding Hiccup was discovered that we would be notified. That is all." Stoick concluded the meeting with those words and we all quietly left the hall.

As I exited I could hear a man sobbing. Only one thought remained in my head, where was the body?

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**A/N: Please leave a review. They are fuel for my creation.**


	9. Chapter 9: Funeral

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait again. This chapter finally puts an end to the first section of the story which is Hiccup leaving Berk. This will most likely be the last chapter dealing with Berk for a while as the story begins to focus more on Hiccup and Toothless. I know this chapter is short but it was originally a part of chapter 8. I struggled with this chapter as I could not for a long time express it how I wanted to, but in the end it worked out. I also reworked bits of chapter 1, but there is no need for you to go back and read over, the story remains the same.  
I hope you enjoy.**

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Chapter 9: The Funeral

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I woke up with a groan of discomfort. I had not slept well and that was shown in the obvious bags under my eyes. I got out of bed and got dressed in my usual clothing and I dragged my feet under me as I headed towards the great hall for my late breakfast. As I walked through the village I saw some commotion near the chief's house and heard Stoick's voice filled with anger and rage.

I decided to head over to get a better sense of what was going on. All I was able to see was a crowd of people and all I heard was Stoick shouting above them all. As Stoick walked away from the house I managed to catch a glimpse of his face and it was evident to anyone that the chief had cried a lot and his face looked almost raw. He looked defeated but at the same time determined.

He then walked off towards the direction of the kill ring with Gobber quickly following behind and it looked like he was trying to convince him of something. The majority of the crowd followed and I decided I would figure out what was going on. From what I could decipher from the whispers among the crowd it appeared that Stoick was going to kill the dragons in the kill ring in what I could only guess was an act of retaliation.

When I reached the kill ring I had to push my way through to get to the bars for a clear view of the situation that was unfolding. Stoick had already grabbed an axe that was hanging on one of the walls and headed towards the cages were the dragons were kept. Gobber was limping behind him telling Stoick to stop.

Stoick stopped and suddenly turned around to face the blacksmith and shouted, "It is because of them my son died! They deserve to suffer the same fate as well!". He tightened his grip on his axe, his face showing only one emotion: anger.

It was obvious that Gobber did not approve of this. The crowd that had gathered was also split on this issue. I heard that some wanted all the dragons dead while some minority wanted Stoick to calm down.

"And what will the teens train with?" Questioned Gobber when Stoick was just about to open the gates.

"We'll capture more in another raid." Stoick replied.

"Stoick", Gobber began sternly, "You know how difficult it is to capture them and there is no guarantee that we will even have that chance. If you don't want the other teens to meet the same fate I suggest you leave the dragons for training so that they are prepared should the situation ever arise."

This seemed to finally convince Stoick to stop. He dropped his guard and without a word walked out of the kill ring. Most of the people in the crowd also dispersed at the same time seeing as no action was going to occur. I also took the opportunity to leave as I had yet to eat breakfast.

"Hiccup's funeral will be held this evening", Stoick said abruptly before anyone could leave, "It will be held on the beach… for those who wanted to know." He then left before anyone could reply.

After a few minutes of walking I made it to the great hall. The entire gang was there all eating their breakfast except for Fishlegs who finished earlier I presumed. I grabbed my plate and then headed towards them and sat down without a word, I was too tired to speak.

I ate almost automatically putting little thought into my actions as my body and mind were still waking up. The teens were discussing things among themselves in hushed whispers. I didn't really care what they were talking about. After a while my mind had left its state of half-slumber and I looked down to see that I had eaten all my food. I pushed my plate forward a bit and sat in a more relaxed position, thinking about what I would do before the funeral. I still wasn't able to figure out my emotions on that matter.

"He should have killed those dragons" Snotlout announced abruptly while slamming a fist on the table causing a few utensils to jump.

"But then what would we train with?" Countered Fishlegs.

"We would have captured more the next raid." Replied Snotlout as if it was an obvious answer. Did he not hear what Gobber had said earlier, was he not there or was he just stupid, I did not know.

"Yeah! Watching Stoick take on all the dragons would have been so cool!" Exclaimed Ruffnut before Fishlegs had a chance to respond, clearly excited about the prospect of a bloody battle.

"The destruction would be so beautiful" Chimed in her twin brother.

As the group continued arguing I just shook my head and slowly headed out of the hall. It didn't take long to reach my house. I grabbed my trusty axe and then headed into the woods as there was no training today for obvious reasons. I still wondered how Hiccup got so good at dragon training and managed to defeat the dragons. Before I could do anything in the ring, the dragons were already on the ground defeated, yet oddly without a spec of blood. Now that Hiccup was gone though, I feared that I would never truly figure out the answer to that question; how Hiccup, a scrawny kid with no training beforehand, managed to become better than me in a matter of days.

It wasn't long until I reached the edge of the forest. I went it and prepared to practice and looked for a suitable location. I purposely avoided any areas close to the place of Hiccup's death as it made me uncomfortable and just the thought of how someone could die in these woods kept me on edge. Once I had found a suitable spot I did what I always did to keep my mind off things; I trained. I threw my axe so many times against the trees that I have lost count. My axe surprisingly enough never broke after all the abuse it had suffered throughout the years and only needed to be resharpened now and then. After years of use it didn't even chip.

It was nice to go out and train, but now I didn't have as much motivation as before. Before, once Hiccup had somehow gotten better than me, I had way more motivation. Now that he was gone, and that I did this to get better than him, it almost felt pointless. Thankfully my mind thought of a new source of motivation: avenge Hiccup. I was determined to kill those dragons and especially that dark one which had most likely made Hiccup's death painful. I would kill them all and end this war.

A few hours passed and I realised I had to stop training or I would have been late for the funeral. I took one last look at the trees before I was to leave. They were all covered in deep cuts and pieces of bark were scattered on the ground. No tree was left unharmed. The trees were strong anyways, they could handle it. I felt nothing for them, they were just plants without feelings, just like all the dragons.

When I made it back to the village I already saw that it was relatively empty. The few that were left were heading towards the beach not far from the village itself. One of those was Ruffnut. I quickly ran up to her and gave her a light greeting punch against her shoulder.

"Oh hey Astrid" Ruffnut said to me.

"Hey, I hope we're not late for the funeral." I said in return.

"I don't think so, many people just left earlier to help set everything up. I was too busy cleaning up my mess after my brother and I may have caused some destruction on Mildew's farm. Stoick was not pleased at all worsened by the fact that Hiccup disappeared. We never saw him so angry. Seeing the cabbages go everywhere was beautiful though." Was her reply.

I was relieved that I was not late and had to suppress a chuckle when she mentioned her messing up Mildew's cabbages, it was always fun to annoy the grumpy old man. We continued our journey to the funeral in silence. It wasn't long before we reached the beach and there was a large crowd gathered around the chief and the funeral boat. Thankfully the sky was clear and there was very little wind to interfere with the funeral. The weather has been great these past days even though winter is fast approaching. It was as if the gods themselves were in approval with the death of the disaster causing fishbone.

After a while it was clear that everyone had arrived and everyone began to calm down as the speech was about to be delivered. I knew it was customary for the chief to give the speech, but I knew the Stoick would have trouble with it. Some whispered that Gobber might give the speech like last time for Valka, as Stoick was unable to formulate any words back then. Although, to everyone's surprise, Stoick began to speak.

"Today is the day we commemorate my son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third." Stoick began, his voice breaking when he mentioned his son's name. At this point I clearly saw his face and it looked as if the man was utterly broken, no that would not describe it, he was utterly destroyed.

"I still find it hard to believe that he had died." Stoick continued after a short pause, "After struggling with raising him on my own for so long, he had finally become the viking I wanted him to be and he managed to place first in dragon training." I wasn't able to suppress a grumble at that statement still holding some resentment towards that fact.

"From what we know, he died fighting a dragon and I hope that it has secured him a place in Valhalla among the gods and with Valka. May they look down at us and be proud that we will continue to fight and live for them." Stoick said and with that ended his speech.

I saw Stoick place Hiccup's helmet on top of where Hiccup's body should have been. I had only seen Hiccup wear it once. Perhaps it was a gift for him doing well in the ring, although I did not know. The boat was then pushed off into the sea. After it had reached a far enough distance so that it was about the size of a mug, Stoick picked up a bow and loaded a flaming arrow and launched it at the boat. It hit its target and was soon followed up by an arrow from Gobber and Spitelout. The boat was quickly engulfed in flames. I continued to stand there until the flames had completely disappeared and stayed even when many of the vikings began to go home.

"He was supposed to be the one doing this Gobber, not me." I heard Stoick sob quietly. Gobber put his good arm on Stoick's shoulder in an attempt at some comfort towards his friend.

"I failed him and I failed Valka. I can't imagine how furious she is right now, looking down at me with anger for how I didn't protect him." Stoick whispered.

"There wasn't much you could do Stoick. No one knew there would be a dragon in the woods, it's not your fault Stoick." Gobber replied.

"Then why does it feel like it is?" Asked Stoick.

Gobber gave no reply and walked off leaving just me and Stoick alone on the beach. Stoick then turned and walked towards me. He stopped just a couple of feet in front of me before turning back towards the sea.

"I have decided that you would be the one to kill the dragon seeing that you were one of the best in dragon training." Stoick began softly. I slowly nodded in reply but I was not sure if he saw.

"It will be postponed for a week but I want you to do it, for Hiccup." He said.

"Anything sir, I promise I will avenge him." I replied.

He seemed a little happier hearing that and then he gave a small nod and walked off leaving me completely alone on the beach. After a couple minutes of staring at the sea I sighed and began to walk home. By that point the sun had already set and it was quite dark outside.

I opened the door to my house and quickly made my way to bed. For some reason I felt guilty that Hiccup died. Was I a cause of it? Was I too competitive and forced him to train harder alone in the forest? Did Hiccup die because of my attitude towards him? I would never know, and that fact ate at my insides.

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**A/N: That was a pretty heavy chapter now wasn't it? Leave a review on what you think so far on the first section of the story and I'll make an effort to reply to any matter brought up.  
Until next time!**


	10. Chapter 10: Progress

**A/N: I am a horrible person for taking so long on this. I almost lost all motivation for this and with the pressures of university almost gave up. Thankfully I did not. This is the beginning of the second section of the story. Most likely we will see less of Astrid but they will still be touched on. I really struggled for ideas on this chapter, so I took a while. I think what I created is something interesting and hopefully you will enjoy it. I hate myself more than you will hate me for taking this long. Hopefully I won't take this long again. This is also the longest chapter yet.  
Enjoy!**

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Chapter 10: Progress

I opened my eyes and it made no difference. Everything around me was black, all light purged from existence, none of it was left to help me see my surroundings. I was standing in the darkness yet... no I wasn't, I was floating. Pressure under my feet told me I was standing yet if I was to move my feet there was nothing below to stop them. I walked aimlessly in this quasi floating state, my legs floating in an intangible liquid. After a minute of travelling the dark abyss I saw a faint light in the distance. Its small glow seemed to be a safe haven in this shadowy place. As I approached it I finally felt solid ground beneath my feet, I looked down and felt relieved as I confirmed that there was grass supporting me.

I continued walking towards the light, slightly distracted by it. When I looked around again I noticed that none of the dark abyss remained. I looked up and saw a clear night sky, white dots scattered in no coherent pattern. The full moon shone brightly, its gentle light illuminating the area, a rare occurrence so far north. I walked up some steps that led me towards the faint light.

I discovered that the light was coming from a door half closed. I carefully walked towards the half open door, making sure all the while not to make a sound just in case. I recognized the door from somewhere. It seemed familiar yet old and out of place. I gently pushed the door open and saw my father looking forward and talking. I couldn't make out any of the words that came out of his mouth nor what was behind him due to his massive size. I tried to walk around him but some external force prevented me from doing so. Frustrated, I tried to ask what was going on here only to produce no sound. I wasn't able to do anything but observe.

The incomprehensible mumbles from my father continued until I heard the voice of a female which seemed to be coming from behind my father where I was unable to observe. As soon as the female voice started talking the entire scene began to fade. Sudden panic overwhelmed me as darkness started to surround me. I was terrified, there was no light to save me. The structure slowly began to collapse in line with the fading of the light. I began breathing quick short breaths and couldn't calm myself as the darkness enveloped me. As the darkness overcame me I felt like I couldn't breathe. _This is it._

"_**HICCUP!"**_

I awoke suddenly in a panic trying to get a grasp of my surroundings clutching onto myself tightly. To my horror even after waking up everything was still dark. I made a move to get up but found myself bound and immobile. I began to desperately rub against the holdings, only once I felt the scales did I realise where I was. I relaxed almost instantly as I remembered how I fell asleep under Toothless' wings and he probably grabbed me close during the night.

Toothless seemed to be already awake. Most likely he woke up earlier than me but didn't move in order not to disturb my sleep. Sensing I awoke he opened his wings and released me gently, his green eyes stared directly into mine. I quickly got up, I had beads of sweat running down my face, no doubt from the panic I had experienced in the dream. Toothless looked at me with obvious concern. Maybe he had felt me panic in my sleep.

As I stood there trying to make sense of what happened, Toothless let out a soft high pitched croon to get my attention. I looked at him and his eyes were full of worry. I just stared at him until he tried again. It was clear that he was asking what happened.

"It's nothing bud, don't worry about it." I said with a tired voice. Toothless saw through my lie. He gave an agitated huff and stomped his paw on the ground, he was demanding an explanation. I was so shaken that I didn't want to risk annoying the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death' that would certainly end in my early demise.

"Just a weird dream turned nightmare, I'm fine bud." I explained. Toothless gave a roll of his eyes and then gestures to his back. "Just let me eat first and then we'll go, okay?" I proposed. Toothless then moved outside the makeshift house. As his tail left I opened the basket in the corner to see what food I had left. I frowned as I realised I had just enough for breakfast and then that would be it. I grabbed what I had left; some bread and a small chunk of meat.

I exited our new home and sat near Toothless with my back against the wall. I ate silently as Toothless and I watched the sun rise above the forest, the bright rays threatened to blind me as they reflected off of the surface of the water. I threw away the leftover bones into the lake and went back to Toothless and idly began stroking under his ears.

"We're both going to need to get more food." I stated as if it was a fact. _It is unless we want to starve_. Toothless let out a slow rumble of agreement. I got up and headed towards the small pile of materials that were left over from yesterday.

I spent the next hour making improvised traps for small game. It was what little my dad had actually taught me and probably the only thing that was remotely useful. It happened when I was around seven, maybe before he gave up on me and still cared. Only Gobber cared and even then he didn't treat me perfectly. Shaking my head to rid memories of Berk I headed into the forest with my best friend following closely behind me.

Not long after entering the forest we both arrived back home with one small task accomplished. I had placed traps throughout the forest where I predicted animals would be. I hoped that I would be lucky and that I hadn't forgotten how to properly set up some traps over the past eight years. Otherwise we would have had to actively hunt which I had no weapons to do so with or let's be honest the skill to hunt either.

Toothless suddenly began nudging me which brought me out of my trance. I looked over at him and saw that he was constantly looking at the saddle on his back. I smiled and chuckled slightly and approached him to get onto the saddle. I barely had time to prepare as the second I had my feet in the stirrups he launched into the sky without warning almost throwing me off in the process.

In a matter of seconds we were above the few clouds that dotted the sky. The weather has been holding up for quite a while now. The pieces of white fluff were now below us. We flew towards the dark blue sea. For a while we just glided above the coast of the island. I felt relaxed and it was as if I had nothing to worry about anymore. The freedom that flying offered to dragons was of great envy. After a while Toothless looked at me and then back at the water, I understood what he wanted and simply nodded at him. We dived down towards the water below, my stomach clenched at the sudden descent and momentarily we were submerged under the water.

Not even two seconds later we out of the water. I was soaked to the bone, but obviously it didn't bother Toothless, as when I looked at him, he had a mouth full of fish. The cold wind began to attack my soaked body and thankfully Toothless landed on a nearby sea stack for us to rest. Although when I got off it was quite clear that Toothless hadn't realised my predicament and was too focused on his fish. Sighing I grabbed what little sticks there were around where we landed and threw them all into a pile. I gave an exaggerated cough to get Toothless' attention. He stopped his loud chewing and looked at me with an annoyed gaze and then quickly set the pile of twigs alight.

I mumbled a quiet 'thanks' as I sat near the fire in an effort to dry my clothes. As Toothless ate behind me I began to reflect on the dream I had. It confused me to no end. _What was that place? Who was that woman? What were they saying? _I thought hard but I couldn't come up with any proper explanation. My mind cycled through endless possibilities. If it was a memory then I clearly did not recognise it. Perhaps a vision, no it couldn't be, father rarely ever spoke to other women.

Toothless brought me from my trance when I heard the plop of a regurgitated fish on the ground in front of me. I looked up at him with a small tinge of disgust, but I knew that he noticed me and was trying to cheer me up. Not wanting to dismiss his concern I nodded towards him, put the half eaten fish on the tip of a nearby stick and held it above the flames.

I stared into the dancing fire, my eyes were fixated on something that wasn't there; an imitation in the flames. Fire looked so beautiful when controlled. On its own, it provided heat, light, cooked our meals, and allowed us to create through forging. Yet, it could burn, kill and ravage entire villages with no mercy, no matter if it was a man, woman or child. I sat mesmerized by the orange flames, the small sun before me. Even though the Vikings have used fire, they have never controlled it like the dragons. But with such a gift the question remains, why do dragons use it for harm? Why do they raid us? After all, I've seen that Toothless is friendly and the terrors I have also met didn't even attempt to make me feel threatened. There must have been something else that caused those dragons to be aggressive.

I left my thoughts for later and began to eat the now cooked half eaten before it was burned. The taste was a bit off, no need to wonder why, and I finished eating feeling satisfied and slightly disgusted. I slowly put the stick back on the ground and suddenly I was pounced on by Toothless which elicited a grunt from me as my back hit ground. As quickly as he threw me onto the ground Toothless got up and started to slowly run away.

"Why you little sneaky reptile" I said as I ran after him. Of course Toothless didn't make it simple and began to run away from me. We ran around in circles around the now dying fire and annoyingly he matched my pace and even mocked me a couple of times. Eventually I picked up a stick, picked up the pace and then suddenly turned and met Toothless the other way head first. Toothless was looking behind clearly looking for me which gave me an opportunity to run forward and poke him with the stick while he was distracted. He looked at me and gave an annoyed huff.

I began to run away but Toothless quickly caught up and crushed me. He kept his head on my chest preventing me from getting up. I was content to just lie there with his company while I regained my strength. After a while I decided it wasn't suitable to waste any more time.

"Alright bud, I think it's time we headed home don't you think?" I asked Toothless. He lifted his head up slowly and then slowly sat back. He looked at me pleadingly.

"I know you want to play more, but we seriously need to work on our home." I tried to reason with Toothless. Thankfully he wasn't as stubborn today and leaned forward to allow me easy access to the saddle. I got on his back and before long we were on a gentle glide back home.

After a couple of minutes we landed beside the lake and the big tree. I wasted no time and began to work on reinforcing the walls of the house. There were still gaps between the wood that had to be covered up. I asked Toothless to help me by bringing me over some materials so that I could focus solely on fixing the walls. He seemed content to lie beside the lake but eventually got up and dragged his paws into the forest to gather some materials.

After some time I managed to decently patch up the gaps in the walls, as well as anyone with very little building experience could do. I began crafting the door that would fit into the entrance of our makeshift home. Throughout the entire time I kept the use of the knife to a minimum as just the mere presence of it gave me the chills.

A couple of hours have passed and our rough house was beginning to form into an actual place where we could live. I started to work on a bed. I wasn't too fond of sleeping on the hard floor. Eventually when I finished the bed I realised that I had nothing to make my sleep comfortable. I settled on a grass and leaf cover but until I managed to find some form of cloth there was little hope of me having a comfortable bed.

After an exhausting day I fell onto my bed without a care in the world that it was uncomfortable and I quickly drifted away.

…

Again, I found myself in pure darkness. I was in a familiar place as I stood on the black nothingness. I sat down in the dark, waiting for something to happen. As before, the house appeared in front of me. I carefully got up and cautiously walked towards it. However, this time as I arrived at the door, it was closed. There was no light inside the house. I had a sense of looming dread wash over me, almost taking away my ability to breathe. I heard my heart beating loudly in my ears.

I tried to pull the door open but it was stuck. I gave a much harder tug and the door finally released and granted me passage into the home. It was so dark I might as well have been sleeping. I wished that I had some light so I could see. Unfortunately that wish was granted as the roof collapsed in on itself and fell onto the ground completely covered in flames. I jumped back in shock from the sudden occurrence.

I heard someone scream shortly followed by another. I quickly bolted from the burning building not wanting to experience the fate it had in store for me if I stayed any longer. Despite the presence of the flames, it did very little to help me perceive what was happening. It was also odd how I didn't hear the inferno or even my own footsteps. I started to leave the presence of the house and hoped to avoid any trouble, but I was knocked onto the ground. I hit the ground hard and was suddenly able to hear what was going on. I heard the flames ravaging the buildings that have appeared around me. I was slowly losing vision of what was going on. I only saw a silhouette run towards me before I completely lost sight of everything.

"_**Wake up, Hiccup! Please!"**_

I woke up shaking and slightly covered in sweat. My head was hurting as if the whole occurrence had been real. I threw my legs over the bed and placed my feet on the ground. Toothless was sitting right next to me with obvious concern in his eyes. He moved closer slightly and started to nuzzle my face. I put my arm around his neck slightly using as support and scratched his neck lightly while I slowly recovered. _These dreams are insane._

I gently pushed Toothless' head away and sluggishly got out of bed. Toothless' eye were fixated on me the entire time. I got dressed in silence. I was about to leave the house when Toothless gave a low rumble.

"It's nothing bud, just a bad dream" I explained to the black dragon. I did not want him feeling bad for me. I attempted to leave the house but he blocked the exit. _This stubborn dragon just doesn't let things go does he?_ He gave out a loud huff as if demanding an explanation. _What's the point if he doesn't even understand me?_

"Okay you persistent reptile" I said as I sat back on the bed. "I had a similar dream as the one I had last night. There was nothing but then there was this house. Last night when I went in I saw my dad and someone else but then everything fell apart. This night I saw the house again, however, there was no one there and it was dark. It was set ablaze and the roof caved in. I was scared and ran out. I heard people screaming and I was knocked to the ground. Before I lost sight of everything something approached me." I explained to Toothless. He looked at me expecting more. "Then I heard someone begging for me to wake up, and everything went black." Toothless' eyes seemed to widen at this statement. He looked at me and rumbled something before shaking his head. He came up to me and began rubbing his head against me trying to comfort me. I knew he was trying to make me feel better.

"Anyways, how about we check on those traps? I'm quite hungry and I'm sure you are as well." I said. We both got up and left the house and walked into the forest. After checking all my traps, two were set off and only one caught a small rabbit, which was already dead. This small return made me realise that living off of traps would not be enough.

"Hey bud, we're probably going to need to go hunting if we're to get food. Or you could catch more fish. Until we get a more sustainable food source at least." I said. Toothless gave a small rumble of approval. "Thanks bud."

As we arrived back home I set up a small fire with Toothless' help and began cooking the rabbit after I had skinned it. Toothless was impatiently waiting for me to finish up. He had already given a lot of cues that he wanted to fly but I needed to have something in my stomach before going into the sky. It wasn't long until I had finished cooking and ate part of the rabbit, but according to Toothless I had clearly taken too long. By the time I had put the rest of the rabbit away Toothless himself has put be on his back and quickly took off into the sky. He gave me little time to get my foot into the pedal which almost caused us to crash as quickly as we have taken off.

"How about some stunts today bud?" I asked Toothless while patting his neck. He seemed to understand and quickly began building altitude. Before I knew what was going on we were diving and spinning at the same time. Before we hit the water we made a sharp turn upwards and flew upside down before levelling out again. It was not as difficult as I had thought it would be to keep up with him. After an hour or so of flying I directed Toothless back to the island. We landed with a slight thump and I slid off of his back.

I began to think how I would hunt for food. After some deliberation I decided that I would make a bow and hunt from a distance. I rarely made bows back in the forge, but I still knew the theory for it. I doubted that it needed to be perfect for hunting anyways. I began to carve the rough shape of the bow from a piece of wood left over from earlier. While I was doing that I was treated with a beautiful scene of Toothless trying to catch a fish. He would wait extremely patiently and then suddenly lunge into the water, disturbing the still surface. I almost cut my finger while watching him, and with a knife as sharp and perhaps cursed as this I decided I wouldn't get distracted again.

I started humming some songs while making the bow. I was completely engrossed in the work and didn't realise that a lot of time went by until Toothless finally nudged me. I looked up at him smiled. I gestured for him to come over and he lied down beside me. I idly scratched his head whenever I took a break and inspected the bow. Eventually using some fibre I made a novice rope and soon constructed the bow properly. I pulled back on the string to test it and then slowly set the string back into place. I got up and headed into the forest again with Toothless close behind me a bit confused. I was looking for feathers without trying to hard a bird. Luckily after a couple of minutes I came across a small stream which any birds seemed to have used as there were many feathers around the place. I began to pick them up one by one. Toothless looked at me picking up the feathers clearly without any understanding to why I was picking up feathers.

"They're for the arrows Toothless, better accuracy. "Once I was satisfied we headed back home.

I broke some stones near the lake to create sharp edges for arrow heads. Eventually I got some arrows done. Although they were not perfect, I believed they would at least get the job of hunting done without much of an issue. I let out a massive sigh as all the work for the day was finished. However, Toothless had other plans. He came up to me and dropped a small wooden dagger at my feet.

"Oh no, I forgot to train yesterday didn't I bud?" I began, "Well we might as well train now."

I picked up the wooden dagger, although it wasn't of much use as we mainly focused on dodging attacks. Compared to two days ago, I was doing much better. I knew how to dodge Toothless' charges and I was aware of the tail the entire time. I found a much more balanced stance thanks to his help. Although I did still fail to dodge his attacks a couple of times, but more importantly it was progress. After about an hour or so we were finished. I sat on the edge of the lake with Toothless beside me.

We watched as the sun set over the horizon. The warm orange glow slowly fading away as the shade slowly climbed up the trees until a point where the shade had evicted the light completely. I leaned onto his neck and just enjoyed the beauty. The birds were singing quietly as if they were full of uncontainable joy but still tried to not wake their children. I smiled when I looked up at Toothless who appeared to be sleepy.

I thought about the bow, thankfully I had done a bit of work on shooting back on Berk, but I would probably need to do some training before I would be competent at it. As the moon began to rise I slowly walked back into our house, taking all the sights in. Eventually I lied down on my bed. Before I could fall asleep Toothless made a grunting noise. I looked at him confused. He looked at my bed and then looked between his wings.

"It's alright bud, I'm fine on this bed. There's no need for you to sacrifice your comfort for me." I told Toothless. Nevertheless he continued to stare at me and then gestured to the space in between his wings again. I sighed in defeat and went to sleep with Toothless.

"Are you happy now bud?" I asked when I was perfectly snuggled between his legs. He let out a soft purr. He was more comfortable than any bed.

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**A/N: Some interesting things happened this chapter. As always please leave a review, it really helps keep my motivation up and helps me to write the story in the correct direction. I will make an effort to reply to any reviews if you wish.  
Until next time! (And hopefully not over a months time) :).**


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